BANCROFT    LIBRARY 


SINNERS  AND  SAINTS. 


TOUR  ACROSS   THE   STATES,  AND 
ROUND    THEM; 


WITH 


THREE   MONTHS  AMONG  THE   MORMONS. 


BY 


PHIL    ROBINSON,  " 

AUTHOR  o   "UNDER  THE  SUN/' 


BOSTON: 

ROBERTS     BROTHERS. 
1883. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER   I. 

FROM    NEW   YORK   TO    CHICAGO. 

PAGE 

By  the  Pennsylvania  Limited — Her  Majesty's  swine — Glimpses 
of  Africa  and  India — "Eligible  sites  for  Kingdoms"— The 
Phoenix  city — Street  scenes  —  From  pig  to  pork — The 
Sparrow  line  —  Chicago  Mountain  —  Melancholy  merry- 
makers .  I 


CHAPTER  IT. 

FROM    CHICAGO   TO   DENVER. 

"Fathers  of  Waters — "  Rich  Lands  lie  Flat  " — The  Misery  River — 
Council  Bluffs — A  "  Live  "  town,  sir — Two  murders :  a  con- 
trast— Omaha — The  immorality  of  "  writing  up  " — On  the 
prairies — The  modesty  of  "  Wish-ton- Wish  " — The  antelope's 
tower  of  refuge — Out  of  Nebraska  into  Colorado  — Man-eating 
Tiger 19 


CHAPTER  III. 

IN    LEADVILLE. 

The  South  Park  line — Oscar  Wilde  on  sunflowers  as  food — In  a 
wash-hand  basin — Anti- Vigilance  Committees — Leadville  the 
city  of  the  carbonates — "  Busted  "  millionaires — The  philo- 


iv  Contents. 


PACK 


sophy  of  thicK  boots — Colorado  miners — National  competition 
in  lions — Abuse  of  the  terms  "gentleman  "  and  "lady  " — Up 
at  the  mines — Under  the  pine-trees  .  .  .  .  36 


CHAPTER  IV. 

FROM    LF.ADVTLLE   TO    SALT   LAKE   CITY. 

What  is  the  conductor  of  a  Pullman  car? —Cannibalism  fatal  to 
lasting  friendships — Starving  Peter  to  feed  Paul — Connexion 
between  Irish  cooker}'  and  Parnellism — Americans  not 
smokers — In  Denver — "The  Queen  City  of  the  Plains" — 
Over  the  Rockies — Pride  in  a  cow,  and  what  came  of  it — 
Sage-brush — Would  ostriches  pay  in  the  West? — Echo  Canon 
— The  Mormons'  fortifications— Great  Salt  Lake  in  sight  .  52 


CHAPTER   V. 

THE  CITY  OF  THE   HONEY-BEE. 

Zion — Deseret — A  City  of  Two  Peoples  —  "  Work  "  the  watch- 
word of  Mormonism — A  few  facts  to  the  credit  of  the  Saints 
— The  text  of  the  Edmunds  Bill— In  the  Mormon  Tabernacle 
— The  closing  scene  of  the  Conference  ....  .68 


CHAPTER  VI. 

LEGISLATION   AGAINST   PLURALITY. 

People  Under  a  ban — What  the  Mormon  men  think  of  the  Anti- 
Polygamy  Bill — And  what  the  Mormon  women  say  of  poly- 
gamy— Puzzling  confidences — Practical  plurality  a  very  dull 
affair  — But  theoretically  a  hedge-hog  problem — Matrimonial 
eccentricities — The  fashionable  milliner  fatal  to  plurality — 
Absurdity  of  comparing  Moslem  polygamy  with  Mormon  plu- 
rality— Are  the  women  of  Utah  happy? — Their  enthusiasm 
for  Women's  Rights 82 


Contents. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

SUA  SI   BONA   NORINT. 

PAGB 

A  Special  Correspondent's  lot— Hypothecated  wits— The  Daugh- 
ters of  Zion— Their  modest  demeanour — Under  the  banner  of 
Woman's  Rights — The  discoverer  discovered — Turning  the 
tables— "By  Jove,  sir,  you  shall  have  mustard  with  your 
beefsteak  !  "  .  IOI 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

COULD   THE   MORMONS  FIGHT? 

An  unfulfilled  prophecy— Had  Brigham  Young  been  still  alive  ?— 
The  hierarchy  of  Mormonism — The  righting  Apostle  and  his 
colleagues — Plurality  a  revelation  — Rajpoot  infanticide  :  how 
it  was  stamped  out — Would  the  Mormons  submit  to  the  pro- 
cess ? — Their  fighting  capabilities — Boer  and  Mormon  :  an 
analogy  between  the  Drakensberg  and  the  Wasatch  ranges—- 
The Puritan  fanaticism  of  the  Saints— Awaiting  the  fulness  of 
time  and  of  prophecy no 

CHAPTER   IX. 

THE  SAINTS  AND  THE   RED   MEN. 

Prevalent  errors  as  to  the  red  man — Secret  treaties — The  policy  of 
the  Mormons  towards  Indians — A  Christian  heathen — Fight- 
ing-strength of  Indians  friendly  to  Mormons  ....  124 

CHAPTER  X. 

REPRESENTATIVE   AND    UNREPRESENTATIVE  MORMONISM. 

Mormonism  and  Mormonism — Salt  Lake  City  not  representative — 
The  miracles  of  water — How  settlements  grow — The  town  of 
Logan  :  one  of  the  Wonders  of  the  West— The  beauty  of  the 
valley — The  rural  simplicity  of  life— Absence  of  liquor  and 
crime — A  police  force  of  one  man — Temple  mysteries — Illus- 
trations of  Mormon  degradation — Their  settlement  of  the 
"  local  option  "  question 130 


vi  Contents. 


CHAPTER   XI. 

THROUGH   THE   MORMON    SETTLEMENTS 

PAGE 

Salt  Lake  City  to  Nephi — General  similarity  of  the  settlements — 
From  Salt  Lake  Valley  into  Utah  Valley— A  lake  of  legends 
— Provo — Into  the  Juab  valley  — Indian  reminiscences — Com- 
mercial integrity  of  the  saints — At  Nephi — Good  work  done 
by  the  saints— Type  of  face  in  rural  Utah — Mormon  "doc- 
trine "  and  Mormon  "  meetings. "  .....  144 


CHAPTER  XII. 

FROM    NEPHI    TO    MANTI. 

English  companies  and  their  failures — A  deplorable  neglect  of 
claret  cup — Into  the  San  Pete  Valley — Reminiscences  of  the 
Indians — The  forbearance  of  the  red  man — The  great  temple 
at  Manti — Masonry  and  Mormon  mysteries —  In  a  tithing- 
house  ....  .  160 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

FROM   MANTI   TO    GLENWOOD. 

Scandinavian  Mormons — Danish  61 — Among  the  orchards  at  Manti 
— On  the  way  to  Conference — Adam  and  Eve — The  proto- 
plasm of  a  settlement — Ham  and  eggs — At  Mayfield— Our 
teamster's  theory  of  the  ground-hog — On  the  way  to  Glenwood 
— Volcanic  phenomena  and  lizards — A  suggestion  for  im- 
proving upon  Nature — Primitive  Art 167 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

FROM    GLENWOOD  TO   MONROE. 

From  Glenwood  to  Salina— Deceptiveness  of  appearances— An 
apostate  Mormon's  friendly  testimony — Reminiscences  of  the 
Prophet  Joseph  Smith— Rabbit -hunting  in  a  waggon — Lost 
in  the  sage-brush — A  day  at  Monroe — Girls  riding  pillion  — 


Contents.  vii 


The  Sunday  drum — Waiting  for  the  right  man  :  "  And  what 
if  he  is  married  ?  "  — The  truth  about  apostasy  :  not  always 
voluntary 178 


CHAPTER  XV. 

AT   MONROE. 

Schooling "  in  the  Mormon  districts — Innocence  as  to  whisky, 
but  connoisseurs  in  water — "  What  do  you  think  of  that 
water,  sir  ?  " — Gentile  dependents  on  Mormon  charity — The 
one-eyed  rooster— Notice  to  All  ! 188 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

JACOB   HAMBLIN. 

A  Mormon  missionary  among  the  Indians — The  story  of  Jacob 
Hamblin's  life— His  spiritualism,  the  result  of  an  intense  faith 
— His  good  work  among  the  Lamanites — His  belief  in  his  own 
miracles  ...  196 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

THROUGH   MARYSVALE  TO  KINGSTON. 

Piute  County — Days  of  small  things — A  swop  in  the  sage-brush  ; 
two  Bishops  for  one  Apostle — The  Kings  of  Kingston — A 
failure  in  Family  . 206 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

FROM    KINGSTON   TO  ORDERVILLE. 

On  the  way  to  Panguitch — Section-houses  not  Mormon  homes — 
Through  wild  country— Panguitch  and  its  fish — Forbidden 
pleasures — At  the  source  of  the  Rio  Virgin— The  surpassing 
beauty  of  Long  Valley — The  Orderville  Brethren — A  success 
in  Family  Communism 216 


viii  Contents. 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

MORMON      VIRTUES. 

PAGE 

Red  ants  and  anti-Mormons — Ignorance  of  the  Mormons  among 
Gentiles  in  Salt  Lake  City— Mormon  reverence  for  the  Bible 
— Their  struggle  against  drinking-saloons  in  the  city — Con- 
spicuous piety  in  the  settlements — Their  charity — Their  so- 
briety (to  my  great  inconvenience)  —The  literature  of  Mor- 
monism  atterly  unreliable— Neglect  of  the  press  by  the  Saints 
— Explanation  of  the  wide- spread  misrepresentation  of  Mor- 
monism 235 

CHAPTER  XX. 

DOWN   THE   ONTARIO   MINE 248 

•  CHAPTER  XXI. 

FROM    UTAH   INTO  NEVADA. 

Rich  and  ugly  Nevada — Leaving  Utah — The  gift  of  the  Alfalfa — 
Through  a  lovely  country  to  Ogden — The  great  food-devouring 
trick — From  Mormon  to  Gentile  :  a  sudden  contrast — The 
son  of  a  cinder — Is  the  red  man  of  no  use  at  all? — The 
papoose's  papoose —Children  all  of  one  family  .  .  .  259 

CHAPTER  XXII. 

FROM   NEVADA   INTO    CALIFORNIA. 

Of  bugbears — Suggestions  as  to  sleeping-cars — A  Bannack  chief, 
his  hat  and  his  retinue — The  oasis  of  Humboldt. — Past  Carson 
Sink — A  reminiscence  of  wolves — "Hard  places" — First 
glimpses  of  California — A  corn  miracle — Bunch-grass  and 
Bison — From  Sacramento  to  Benicia  .  .  .  .  276 

CHAPTER  XXIII. 

San  Franciscans,  their  fruits  and  their  falsehoods — Their  neglect 
of  opportunities — A  plague  of  flies — The  pigtail  problem — 


Contents.  ix 


PAGE 

Chinamen  less  black  than  they  are  painted— The  seal  rocks— 
The  loss  otVa&Eurydice  -A  jeweller's  fairyland— The  mystery 
of  gems 288 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 

Gigantic  America — Of  the  treatment  of  strangers — The  wild-life 
world — Railway  Companies'  food-frauds — California  Felix — • 
Prairie-dog  history — The  exasperation  of  wealth — Blessed 
with  good  oil — The  meek  lettuce  and  judicious  onion — Salads 
and  Salads — The  perils  of  promiscuous  grazing  .  .  .  303 


CHAPTER  XXV. 

The  Carlyle  of  vegetables — The  moral  in  blight — Bee-farms — The 
city  of  Angels — Of  squashes — Curious  vegetation — The  incom- 
patibility of  camels  and  Americans — Are  rabbits  "seals"? — 
All  wilderness  and  no  weather — An  "  infinite  torment  of  flies  "  317 

CHAPTER  XXVI. 

THROUGH  THE  COWBOYS5   COUNTRY. 

The  Santa  Cruz  valley — The  cactus — An  ancient  and  honourable 
pueblo — A  terrible  beverage — Are  cicadas  deaf?— A  floral 
catastrophe — The  secretary  and  the  peccaries  .  .  .  328 

CHAPTER  XXVII. 

American  neglect  of  natural  history — Prairie-dogs  again  ;  their 
courtesy  and  colouring— Their  indifference  to  science — A  hard 
crowd — Chuckers  out — Makeshift  Colorado  .  .  .  .  341 


CHAPTER  XXVIII. 

Nature's  holiday — Through   wonderful  country — Brown    negroes 
a    libel    on  mankind— The  Wild-flower   State -The    black 


Contents. 


PACK 

problem— A  piebald  flirt — The  hippopotamus  and  the  flea— 
A  narrow  escape — The  home  of  the  swamp-goblin — Is  the 
moon  a  fraud  ? 348 


CHAPTER  XXIX 

Frogs,  in  the  swamp  and  as  a  side-dish — Negroids  of  the  swamp 
age — Something  like  a  mouth — Honour  in  your  own  country 
— The  Land  of  Promise — Civilization  again  ....  363 


SINNERS    AND    SAINTS. 

CHAPTER  I. 

FROM    NEW   YORK   TO    CHICAGO. 

By  the  Pennsylvania  Limited — Her  Majesty's  swine — Glimpses  of 
Africa  and  India — "Eligible  sites  for  Kingdoms  "—  The  Phoenix 
city — Street  scenes — From  pig  to  pork — The  Sparrow  line — 
Chicago  Mountain — Melancholy  merry-makers. 

"  DOES  the  fast  train  to  Chicago  ever  stop  ?  "  was  the  ques- 
tion of  a  bewildered  English  fellow-passenger,  Westward- 
bound  like  myself,  as  I  took  my  seat  in  the  car  of  the 
Pennsylvania  Limited  mail  that  was  to  carry  me  nearly 
half  the  distance  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific.  "  Oh, 
yes/'  I  replied,  "  it  stops—  at  Chicago." 

By  this  he  recognized  in  me  a  fellow-innocent,  and  so  we 
foregathered  at  once,  breakfasted  together,  and  then  went 
out  to  smoke  the  calumet  together. 


To  an  insular  traveller,  it  is  a  prodigiously  long  journey 
this,  across  the  continent  of  America,  but  I  found  the 
journey  a  perpetual  enjoyment.  Even  the  dull  country 
of  the  first  hour's  travelling  had  many  points  of  interest  for 
the  stranger — scattered  hamlets  of  wooden  houses  that  were 
only  joined  together  by  straggling  strings  of  cocks  and  hens ; 
the  others  that  seemed  to  have  been  trying  to  scramble  over 
the  hill  and  down  the  other  side  but  were  caught  just  as 

B 


Sinners  and  Saints. 


they  got  to  the  top  and  pinned  down  to  the  ground  with 
lightning  conductors  ;  the  others  that  had  palings  round 
them  to  keep  them  from  running  away,  but  had  got  on  to 
piles  as  if  they  were  stilts  and  intended  (when  no  one  was 
looking)  to  skip  over  the  palings  and  go  away  ;  the  others 
that  had  rows  of  dwarf  fir-trees  in  front  of  them,  through 
which  they  stared  out  of  both  their  windows  like  a  forward 
child  affecting  to  be  shy  behind  its  fingers.  These  fir-trees 
are  themselves  very  curious,  for  they  give  the  country  a  half- 
cultivated  appearance,  and  in  some  places  make  the  hillsides 
and  valleys  look  like  immense  cemeteries,  and  only  waiting 
for  the  tombstones.  Even  the  levels  of  flooded  land  and  the 
scorched  forests  were  of  interest,  as  significant  of  a  country 
still  busy  over  its  rudiments 

"  All  charcoal  and  puddles,"  said  a  fellow-traveller  dis- 
paragingly ;  "  I'm  very  glad  we're  going  so  fast  through  it." 

Now  for  my  own  part  I  think  it  looks  very  uncivil  of  a  train 
to  go  with  a  screech  through  a  station  without  stopping,  and 
I  always  wish  I  could  say  something  in  the  way  of  an  apology 
to  the  station-master  for  the  train's  bad  manners.  No  doubt 
people  who  live  in  very  small  places  get  accustomed  to 
trains  rushing  past  their  platforms  without  stopping  even  to 
say  "  By  your  leave."  But  at  first  it  must  be  rather  painful. 
At  least  I  should  think  it  was.  On  the  other  hand,  the  people 
"  in  the  mofussil "  (which  is  the  Anglo-Indian  for  "  all  the 
country  outside  one's  own  town  ")  did  not  pay  much  attention 
to  our  train.  Everybody  went  about  their  several  works 
for  all  the  world  as  if  we  were  not  flashing  by.  Even  the 
dogs  trotted  about  indifferently,  without  even  so  much  as 
noticing  us,  except  occasionally  some  distant  mongrel,  who 
barked  at  the  train  as  if  it  was  a  stray  bullock,  and  smiled 
complacently  upon  the  adjoining  landscape  when  he  found 
how  thoroughly  he  had  frightened  it  away. 


By  the  Pennsylvania  Limited. 


There  seemed  to  me  a  curious  dearth  of  small  wild  life. 
The  English  "  country  "  is  so  full  of  birds  that  all  others 
seem,  by  comparison,  birdless.  Once,  I  saw  a  russet- 
winged  hawk  hovering  over  a  copse  of  water-oak  as  if  it 
saw  something  worth  eating  there  ;  once,  too,  I  saw  a  blue- 
bird brighten  a  clump  of  cedars.  Now  and  again  a  vagabond 
crow  drifted  across  the  sky.  But,  as  compared  with  Europe 
or  parts  of  the  East  which  I  know  best,  bird-life  was  very 
scanty. 

And  presently  Philadelphia  came  slidirig  along  to  meet 
us  with  a  stately  decorum  of  metalled  roads  and  well-kept 
public  grounds,  and  we  stopped  for  the  first  of  the  twelve 
halts,  worth  calling  such,  which  I  had  to  make  in  the  3000 
miles  between  the  Atlantic  and  the  Pacific. 

How  treacherously  the  trains  in  America  start !  There 
is  no  warning  given,  so  far  as  an  ordinary  passenger  can  see, 
that  the  start  is  under  contemplation,  and  it  takes  him  by 
surprise.  The  American  understands  that  "  All  aboard  " 
means  "  If  you  don't  jump  up  at  once  you'll  be  left  behind.'' 
But  to  those  accustomed  to  a  "  first "  and  a  "  second  "  and 
a  "  third  "  bell — and  accustomed,  too,  not  to  get  up  even 
then  until  the  guard  has  begged  them  as  a  personal  favour 
to  take  their  seats — the  sudden  departure  of  the  American 
locomotive  presents  itself  as  a  rather  shabby  sort  of  practical 
joke. 

The  quiet,  unobtrusive  scenery  beyond  Philadelphia  is 
English  in  character,  and  would  be  still  more  so  if  there 
were  hedges  instead  of  railings.  By  the  way,  whenever 
reading  biographical  notices  of  distinguished  Americans  I 
have  been  surprised  to  find  that  so  many  of  them  at  one 
time  or  other  had  "  split  rails  "  for  a  subsistence.  But  now 
that  I  have  followed  "  the  course  of  empire  "  West,  I  am 
not  the  least  surprised.  I  only  wonder  that  every  American 

B  2 


Sinners  and  Saints. 


has  not  split  rails,  at  one  time  or  another,  or,  indeed,  gone 
on  doing  it  all  his  life.  For  how  such  a  prodigious-  quan- 
tity of  rails  ever  got  split  (even  supposing  distinguished 
men  to  have  assisted  in  the  industry  in  early  life)  passes  my 
feeble  comprehension.  All  the  way  from  New  York  to 
Chicago  there  are  on  an  average  twenty  lines  of  split  rails 
running  parallel  with  the  railway  track,  in  sight  all  at  once  ! 
And  after  all,  this  is  only  one  narrow  strip  across  a  gigantic 
continent.  In  fact,  the  two  most  prominent  "  natural  fea- 
tures "  of  the  landscape  along  this  route  are  dwarf  firs  and 
split  rails.  But  no  writer  on  America  has  ever  told  me  so. 
Nor  have  I  ever  been  told  of  the  curious  misapprehension 
prevalent  in  the  States  as  to  the  liberty  of  the  subject 
in  the  British  Isles. 

In  America,  judging  at  any  rate  from  the  speech  of  "  the 
average  American,"  I  find  that  there  is  a  belief  prevalent 
that  the  English  nation  "  lies  prostrate  under  the  heel  of 
a  tyrant."  What  a  shock  to  those  who  think  thus,  must  have 
been  that  recent  episode  of  the  queen's  pigs  at  Slough  ! 

Six  swine  and  a  calf  belonging  to  her  Majesty  found 
themselves,  the  other  day,  impounded  by  the  Slough  magis- 
trates' for  coming  to  market  without  a  licence.  Slough, 
from  geographical  circumstances  over  which  it  has  no  con- 
trol, happens  to  be  in  Buckinghamshire,  and  this  country 
has  been  declared  "  an  infected  district,"  so  that  the  bailiff 
who  brought  his  sovereign's  pigs  to  market,  without  due 
authority  to  do  so,  transgressed  the  law.  Two  majesties 
thus  came  into  collision  over  the  calf,  and  that  of  the  law 
prevailed.  Such  a  constitutional  triumph  as  this  goes  far 
to  clear  away  the  clouds  that  appeared  to  be  gathered  upon 
the  political  horizon,  and  the  shadows  of  a  despotic  dicta- 
torship which  seemed  to  be  falling  across  England  begin  to 
vanish.  The  written  law,  contained  probably  in  a  very 


Her  Majesty's  Swine. 


dilapidated  old  copy  in  the  possession  of  these  rural 
magistrates,  a  dogs'-eared  and,  it  may  be,  even  a  ragged 
volume,  asserted  itself  supreme  over  a  monarch's  farmyard 
stock,  and  dared  to  break  down  that  divinity  which  doth 
hedge  a  Sovereign's  swine.  There  are  some  who  say  that  in 
the  British  Isles  men  are  losing  their  reverence  for  the  law, 
and  that  justice  wears  two  faces,  one  for  the  rich  and  an- 
other for  the  poor.  They  would  have  us  believe  that  only 
the  parasites  of  princes  sit  in  high  place,  and  that  the  scales 
of  justice  rise  or  fall  according  to  the  inclinations  of  the 
sceptre,  with  the  obsequious  regularity  of  the  tides  that  wait 
upon  the  humours  of  the  moon.  But  such  an  incident  as 
this,  when  the  Justices  of  Slough,  those  intrepid  Hampdens, 
sate  sternly  in  their  places,  and,  fearless  of  Royal  frowns  and 
all  the  displeasure  of  »Windsor,  dispensed  to  the  pigs,  born 
in  the  purple,  and  to  the  calf  that  had  lived  so  near  a  throne, 
the  impartial  retribution  of  a  fine — with  costs — gives  a 
splendid  refutation  to  these  calumnies.  Where  shall  we  look 
in  Republican  history  for  such  another  incident  ?  or  where 
search  for  dauntless  magistrates  like  those  of  Slough,  who 
shut  their  eyes  against  the  reflected  glitter  of  a  Court^  who 
fined  the  Royal  calf  for  risking  the  health  of  Hodge's  mise- 
rable herd,  and  gave  the  costs  against  the  Imperial  pigs  for 
travelling  into  Buckinghamshire  without  a  licence?  Fiat 
justitia,  ruat  ccelum.  There  was  no  truckling  here  to 
borrowed  majesty,  no  sycophant  adulation  of  Royal  owner- 
ship ;  but  that  fine  old  English  spirit  of  courageous  inde- 
pendence which  has  made  tyrants  impossible  in  our  island 
and  our  law  supreme.  It  was  of  no  use  before  such  men  as 
these,  the  stout-hearted  champions  of  equal  justice,  for  the 
bailiff  to  plead  manorial  privilege,  or  to  threaten  the  thunders 
of  the  House  of  Brunswick.  They  were  as  implacable  as  a 
bench  of  Rhadamanthuses,  and  gave  these  distinguished 


Sinners  and  Saints. 


hogs  the  grim  choice  between  paying  a  pound  or  going  to 
one.  Nor,  to  their  credit  be  it  said,  did  either  bailiff,  calf, 
or  pigs  exhibit  resentment.  On  the  contrary,  they  accepted 
judgment  with  that  respectful  acquiescence  which  charac- 
terizes our  law-abiding  race,  and  the  swine  turned  without 
a  murmur  from  the  scene  of  their  repulse,  and  trotted  cheer- 
fully before  the  bailiff  out  of  Buckinghamshire  back  to 
Windsor. 

The  bailiff,  no  doubt,  bethought  him  of  the  past,  and 
wished  the  good  old  days  of  feudalism  were  back,  when  a 
King's  pig  was  a  better  man  than  a  Buckinghamshire 
magistrate.  But  if  he  did,  he  abstained  from  saying  so.  On 
the  contrary,  he  paid  his  fine  like  a  loyal  subject,  and  gather- 
ing his  innocent  charges  round  him  went  forth,  more  in 
sorrow  than  in  anger,  from  the  presence  of  the  magisterial 
champions  of  the  public  interests.  The  punished  pigs,  too, 
may  have  felt,  perhaps,  just  a  twinge  of  regret  for  the  days 
when  they  roamed  at  will  over  the  oak-grown  shires,  infecting 
each  other  as  they  chose,  without  any  thought  of  Contagious 
Diseases  Acts  or  vigilant  justices.  But  they  said  nothing ; 
and  the  spectacle  of  an  upright  stipendiary  dispensing  im- 
partial justice  to  a  law-abiding  aristocracy  was  thus 
complete. 

To  return  to  my  car.  Beyond  Philadelphia  the  country 
was  waking  up  for  Spring.  The  fields  were  all  flushed  with 
the  first  bright  promise  of  harvest ;  blackbirds — reminding 
me  of  the  Indian  king-crows  in  their  sliding  manner  of 
flight  and  the  conspicuous  way  in  which  they  use  their  tails 
as  rudders — were  flying  about  in  sociable  parties  ;  and 
flocks  of  finches  went  jerking  up  the  hill-sides  by  fits  and 
starts  after  the  fashion  of  these  frivolous  little  folk. 

A  mica-schist  (it  may  be  gneiss)  abounds  along  the  rail- 
way track,  and  it  occurred  to  me  that  I  had  never,  except 


Glimpses  of  Africa  and  India. 


in  India,  seen  this  material  used  for  the  ornamentation  of 
houses.  Yet  it  is  very  beautiful.  In  the  East  they  beat  it 
up  into  a  powder — some  is  white,  some  yellow — and  after 
mixing  it  with  weak  lime  and  water,  wash  the  walls  with  it, 
the  result  being  a  very  effective  although  subdued  sparkle, 
in  some  places  silvery,  in  others  golden. 

Nearing  Harrisburg  the  country  begins  to  resemble  upper 
Natal  very  strongly,  and  when  we  reached  the  Susquehanna, 
I  could  easily  have  believed  that  we  were  on  the  Mooi,  on 
the  borders  of  Zululand.  But  the  superior  majesty  of  the 
American  river  soon  asserted  itself,  and  I  forgot  the  com- 
parison altogether  as  I  looked  out  on  this  truly  noble  stream, 
with  the  finely  wooded  hills  leaning  back  from  it  on  either 
side,  as  if  to  give  its  waters  more  spacious  way. 

And  then  Harrisburg,  and  the  same  stealthy  departure  of 
the  train.  But  outside  the  station  our  having  started  was 
evident  enough,  for  a  horse  that  had  been  left  to  look  after 
a  buggy  for  a  few  minutes,  took  fright,  and  with  three  frantic 
kangaroo-leaps  tried  to  take  the  conveyance  whole  over  a 
wall.  But  failing  in  this,  it  careered  away  down  the  road  with 
the  balance  of  the  buggy  dangling  in  a  draggle-tail  sort  of 
way  behind  it. 

Nature  works  with  so  few  ingredients  that  landscape  re- 
peats itself  in  every  continent.  For  there  is  a  limit,  after 
all,  to  the  combinations  possible  of  water,  mountain,  plain, 
valley,  and  vegetation.  This  is  strictly  true,  of  course,  only 
when  we  deal  with  things  generically.  Specific  combinations 
go  beyond  arithmetic.  But  even  with  her  species,  Nature 
delights  in  singing  over  old  songs  and  telling  the  tales  she 
has  already  told.  For  instance  here,  after  passing  Harris- 
burg, is  a  wonderful  glimpse  of  Naini  Tal  in  the  Indian 
hills — memorable  for  a  terribly  fatal  landslip  three  years 
ago — with  its  oaks  and  rhododendrons  and  scattered  pines. 


Sinners  and  Saints. 


In  the  valleys  the  streams  go  tumbling  along  with  willows 
on  either  bank,  and  here  and  there  on  the  hillsides,  shine 
white  houses  with  orchards  about  them. 

The  houses  men  build  for  themselves  when  they  are 
thinking  only  of  shelter  are  ugly  enough.  Elegance,  like 
the  nightingale,  is  a  creature  of  summer-time,  when  the 
hard-working  months  of  the  year  are  over  and  Nature  sits  in 
her  drawing-room,  so  to  speak,  playing  the  fine  lady,  paint- 
ing the  roses  and  sweetening  the  peaches.  But,  ugly  though 
they  are,  these  scattered  homesteads  are  by  far  the  finest 
lines  in  all  the  great  poem  of  this  half-wild  continent,  and 
lend  a  grand  significance  to  every  passage  in  which  they 
occur.  And  the  pathos  of  it !  Look  at  those  two  horses 
and  a  man  driving  a  plough  through  that  scrap  of  ground 
yonder.  There  is  not  another  living  object  in  view,  though 
the  eye  covers  enough  ground  for  a  European  principality. 
Yet  that  man  dares  to  challenge  all  this  tremendous  Nature  ! 
It  is  David  before  Goliath,  before  a  whole  wilderness  of 
Goliaths,  with  a  plough  for  a  sling  and  a  ploughshare  for  a 
pebble. 

Here  all  of  a  sudden  is  another  man,  all  alone  with  some 
millions  of  trees  and  the  Alleghanies.  And  he  stands  there 
with  an  axe  in  his  hands,  revolving  in  that  untidy  head  of  his 
what  he  shall  do  next  to  the  old  hills  and  their  reverend 
forest  growth.  The  audacity  of  it,  and  the  solemnity  ! 

It  would  be  as  well  perhaps  for  sentiment  if  every  man 
was  quite  alone.  For  I  find  that  if  there  are  two  men  to- 
gether one  immediately  tries  to  sell  the  other  something ; 
and  to  inform  him  of  its  nature,  he  goes  and  paints  the 
name  of  his  disgusting  commodities  on  the  smooth  faces  of 
rocks  and  on  tree-trunks.  Now,  any  landscape,  however 
grand,  loses  in  dignity  if  you  see  "  Bunkum's  Patent  "  in- 
scribed in  the  foreground  in  whitewash  letters  six  feet  high. 


Eligible  Sites  for  Kingdoms. 


What  a  mercy  it  is  these  quacks  cannot  advertise  on  the 
sky — or  on  running  water  ! 

For  the  river  is  now  at  its  grandest  and  it  keeps  with  us 
all  the  afternoon,  showing  on  either  side  splendid  waterways 
between  sloping  spurs  of  the  hills  densely  wooded  and 
strewn  with  great  boulders.  But  on  a  sudden  the  mountains 
are  gone  and  the  river  with  them,  and  we  speed  along 
through  a  region  of  green  grass-land  and  abundant  cultiva- 
tion. Land  agents  might  truthfully  advertise  it  in  lots  as 
"  eligible  sites  for  kingdoms." 

And  so  on,  past  townships,  whose  names  running  (at  forty 
miles  an  hour)  no  man  can  read,  and  round  the  famous 
"  horseshoe  curve  " — where  it  looks  as  if  the  train  were 
trying  to  get  its  head  round  in  order  to  swallow  its  tail — 
down  into  valleys  already  taking  their  evening  tints  of 
misty  purple,  and  pink,  and  pale  blue.  And  then  Derry. 

Just  before  we  arrived  there,  two  freight  trains  had  selected 
Derry  as  an  opportune  spot  for  a  collision,  and  had  collided 
accordingly.  There  could  have  been  very  little  reservation 
about  their  collision,  for  the  wreck  was  complete,  and  when 
we  got  under  way  again  we  could  just  make  out  by  the 
moonlight  the  scattered  limbs  of  carriages  lying  heaped 
about  on  the  bank.  In  some  places  it  looked  as  if  a  clumsy 
apprentice  had  been  trying  to  make  packing-cases  out  of 
freight  wagons,  but  had  given  up  on  finding  that  'he  had 
broken  the  pieces  too  small.  And  they  were  too  big  for 
matches.  So  it  was  rather  a  useless  sort  of  collision,  after 
all — and  no  one  was  hurt. 

But  "  the  Pennsylvania  Limited  "  has  very  little  leisure  to 
think  about  other  people's  collisions,  and  so  we  were  soon 
on  our  way  again  through  the  moonlit  country,  with  the 
hills  in  the  distance  lying  still  and  black,  like  round-backed 
monsters  sleeping,  and  the  stations  going  by  in  sudden 


IO  Sinners  and  Saints. 

snatches  of  lamplight,  and  every  now  and  then  a  train,  its 
bell  giving  a  wail  exactly  like  the  sound  of  a  shell  as  it 
passes  over  the  trenches.  And  so  to  Pittsburg,  and,  our 
"  five  minutes "  over,  the  train  stole  away  like  a  hyena, 
snarling  and  hiccoughing,  and  we  were  again  out  in  the 
country,  with  everything  about  us  beautified  by  the  gracious 
alchemy  of  the  moonlight  and  the  stars. 

And  the  Ohio  River  rolled  alongside,  with  its  steamers 
ploughing  up  furrows  of  ghostly  white  froth,  and  unwinding 
as  they  went  long  streamers  of  ghostly  black  smoke — and 
then  I  fell  asleep. 

When  I  awoke  next  morning  I  was  in  Indiana,  and  very 
sunny  it  looked  without  a  hill  in  sight  to  make  a  shadow. 
The  water  stood  in  lakes  on  the  dead  level  of  the  country, 
and  horses,  cattle,  sheep,  and  here  and  there  a  pig — a  pre- 
gustation  of  Chicago — grazed  and  rooted,  very  well  satisfied 
apparently  with  pastures  that  had  no  ups  and  downs  to 
trouble  them  as  they  loitered  about.  And  as  the  morning 
wore  on,  the  people  woke  up,  and  were  soon  as  busy  as  their 
windmills.  In  the  fields  the  teams  were  ploughing;  in  the 
towns,  the  children  were  trooping  off  to  school.  But  the 
eternal  level  began  at  last,  apparently,  to  weary  the  Penn- 
sylvania Limited,  for  it  commenced  slackening  speed  and 
finding  frivolous  pretexts  for  coming  nearly  to  a  standstill — 
the  climax  being  reached  when  we  halted  in  front  of  a  small, 
piebald  pig.  We  looked  at  the  pig  and  the  pig  looked  at 
us,  and  the  pig  got  the  best  of  it,  for  we  sneaked  off,  leaving 
the  porker  master  of  the  situation  and  still  looking. 

But  these  great  flats — what  a  paradise  of  snipe  they  are,  and 
how  golf-players  might  revel  on  them  !  Birds  were  abundant. 
Crows  went  about  in  bands  recruiting  "  black  marauders" 
in  every  copse ;  blackbirds  flew  over  in  flocks,  and  small 
things  of  the  linnet  kind  rose  in  wisps  from  the  sedges  and 


The  Phoenix  City.  1 1 

osiers.  And  there  was  another  bird  of  which  I  did  not 
then  know  the  name,  that  was  a  surprise  every  time  it  left 
the  ground,  for  it  sate  all  black  and  flew  half  scarlet.  Could 
not  these  marsh  levels  be  utilized  for  the  Indian  water-nut, 
the  singhara?  In  Asia  where  it  is  cultivated  it  ranks 
almost  as  a  local  staple  of  food,  and  is  delicious. 

A  noteworthy  feature  of  the  country,  by  the  way,  is  the 
sudden  appearance  of  hedge-rows.  No  detail  of  landscape 
that  I  know  of  makes  scenery  at  once  so  English.  And  then 
we  find  ourselves  steaming  along  past  beds  of  osiers,  with 
long  waterways  stretching  up  northwards,  with  here  and 
there  a  painted  duck,  like  the  European  sheldrake,  floating 
under  the  shadows  of  the  fir-trees,  and  then  I  became  aware 
of  a  great  green  expanse  of  water  showing  through  the 
trees,  and  I  asked  "  What  is  that  ?  The  water  must  be  very 
deep  to  be  such  a  colour."  "That  is  Lake  Michigan," 
was  the  answer,  "  and  this  is  Chicago  we  are  coming  to 
now." 

And  very  soon  we  found  ourselves  in  the  station  of  the 
great  city  by  the  lake,  with  the  masts  of  shipping  alongside 
the  funnels  of  engines.  But  not  a  pig  in  sight ! 

I  had  thought  that  Chicago  was  all  pigs. 

And  what  a  city  it  is,  this  central  wonder  of  the  States ! 
As  a  whole,  Chicago  is  nearly  terrific.  The  real  significance 
of  this  phoenix  city  is  almost  appalling.  Its  astonishing 
resurrection  from  its  ashes  and  its  tremendous  energy  terrify 
jelly-fishes  like  myself.  Before  they  have  got  roads  that  are 
fit  to  be  called  roads,  these  Chicago  men  have  piled  up  the 
new  County  Hall,  to  my  mind  one  of  the  most  imposing 
structures  I  have  ever  seen  in  all  my  wide  travels. 

Chicago  does  not  altogether  seem  to  like  it,  for  every  one 
spoke  of  it  as  "  too  solid-looking,"  but  for  my  part  I  think 
it  almost  superb.  The  architect's  name,  I  believe,  is  Egan  ; 


12  Sinners  and  Saints. 

but  whence  he  got  his  architectural  inspiration  I  cannot 
say.  It  reminds  me  in  part  of  a  wing  of  the  Tuileries,  but 
why  it  does  I  could  not  make  up  my  mind. 

Then  again,  look  at  this  Chicago  which  allows  its  business 
thoroughfares  to  be  so  sumptuously  neglected — some  of 
them  are  almost  as  disreputable-looking  as  Broadway — and 
goes  and  lays  out  imperial  "  boulevards  "  to  connect  its 
"  system  of  parks."  These  boulevards,  simply  if  left  alone 
for  the  trees  to  grow  up  and  the  turf  to  grow  thick,  will 
before  long  be  the  finest  in  all  the  world.  The  streets  in 
the  city,  however,  if  left  alone  much  longer,  would  be  a  dis- 
grace to —well,  say  Port  Said.  The  local  administration, 
they  say,  is  "  corrupt."  But  that  is  the  standing  American 
explanation  for  everything  with  which  a  stranger  finds  fault. 
I  was  always  told  the  same  in  New  York — and  would  you 
seriously  tell  me  that  the  municipal  administration  of  New 
York  is  corrupt  ? — to  account  for  congestion  of  traffic,  fat 
policemen,  bad  lamps,  sidewalks  blocked  with  packing- 
cases,  &c ,  &c.  And  in  Chicago  it  accounts  for  the  streets 
being  more  like  rolling  prairie  than  streets,  for  cigar  stores 
being  houses  of  assignation,  for  there  being  so  much  orange 
peel  and  banana  skin  on  the  sidewalks,  &c.,  &c.  But  I 
am  not  at  all  sure  that  "  municipal  corruption  "  is  not  a 
scapegoat  for  want  of  public  spirit. 

But  let  the  public  spirit  be  as  it  may,  there  can  be  no 
doubt  as  to  the  private  enterprise  in  Chicago.  Take  the 
iron  industry  alone  —  what  prodigious  proportions  it  is 
assuming,  and  how  vastly  it  will  be  increased  when  that 
circum-urban  "  belt  line  "  of  railways  is  completed  !  Take, 
again,  the  Pullman  factories.  They  by  themselves  form 
an  industry  which  might  satisfy  any  town  of  moderate 
appetite.  But  Chicago  is  a  veritable  glutton  for  speculative 
trade. 


Street  Scenes.  13 


The  streets  at  all  times  abound  with  incident.  Here  at  one 
corner  was  a  Hansom  cab,  surely  the  very  latest  develop- 
ment of  European  science,  with  two  small  black  children, 
looking  like  imps  in  a  Drury  Lane  pantomime,  trying  to  pin 
"  April  Fool  "  on  to  the  cabman's  dependent  tails.  Could 
anything  be  more  incongruous?  In  the  first  place,  what 
have  negro  children  to  do  with  April  fooling  ?  and  in  the 
next,  imagine  these  small  scraps  in  ebony  taking  liberties 
with  a  Hansom  !  A  group  of  cowboy- and-miner  looking 
men  were  grouped  in  ludicrous  attitudes  of  sentimentality 
before  a  concertina-player,  who  was  wheezing  out  his  own 
version  of  "  old  country  "  airs.  On  the  arm  of  one  of  the 
group  languished  a  lady  with  a  very  dark  skin,  dressed  in  a 
rich  black  silk  dress,  with  a  black  satin  mantle  trimmed  with 
sumptuous  fur,  and  half  an  ostrich  on  her  head  by  way  of 
bonnet  and  feathers.  The  men  there,  as  in  most  of  America, 
strike  me  as  being  very  judicious  in  the  arrangement  of  their 
personal  appearance,  especially  in  the  trimming  of  their  hair 
and  moustachios  ;  but  many  of  the  women — I  speak  now  of 
Chicago — sacrificed  everything  to  that  awful  Amercan  insti- 
tution, the  "  bang." 

I  know  of  no  female  head-dress  in  Asia,  Africa,  or  Europe 
so  absurd  in  itself  or  so  lunatic  in  the  wearer  as  some  of  the 
Chicago  bangs.  Ugliness  of  face  is  intensified  a  thousand- 
fold by  "  the  ring-worm  style  "  of  head-dress  with  which 
they  cover  their  foreheads  and  half  their  cheeks.  Prettiness 
of  face  can,  of  course,  never  be  hidden ;  but  I  honestly  think 
that  neither  a  black  skin,  nor  lip-rings  and  nose-rings,  nor 
red  teeth,  nor  any  other  fantastic  female  fashion  that  I  have 
ever  seen  in  other  parts  of  the  world,  goes  so  far  towards 
concealing  beauty  of  features  as  that  curly  plastering  which, 
from  ignorance  of  its  real  name,  I  have  called  "  the  ring 
worm  style  of  bang." 


14  Sinners  and  Saints. 

Here,  too,  in  Chicago  I  found  a  man  selling  "  gophers." 
Now,  I  do  not  know  the  American  name  for  this  vanish- 
into-nothing  sort  of  pastry,  but  I  do  know  that  there  is  one 
man  in  London  who  declares  that  he,  and  he  alone  in  all  the 
world^  is  aware  of  the  secret  of  the  gopher.  And  all  London 
believes  him.  His  is  supposed  to  be  a  lost  art — but  for  him 
— and  I  should  not  be  surprised  if  some  Jover  of  the  antique 
were  to  bribe  him  to  bequeath  the  precious  secret  to  an 
heir  before  he  dies.  But  in  Chicago  peripatetic  vendors  of 
this  cate  are  an  every-day  occurrence,  and  even  the  juvenile 
Ethiop  sometimes  compasses  the  gopher.  What  its  Ame- 
rican name  is  I  cannot  say ;  but  it  is  a  very  delicate  kind  of 
pastry  punched  into  small  square  depressions,  and  every 
mouthful  you  eat  is  so  inappreciable  in  point  of  matter  that 
you  look  down  on  your  waistcoat  to  see  if  you  have  not 
dropped  it,  and  when  the  whole  is  done  you  feel  that  you 
have  consumed  about  as  much  solid  nutriment  as  a  fish 
does  after  a  nibble  at  an  artificial  bait.  Have  you  ever 
given  a  dog  a  piece  of  warm  fat  off  your  plate  and  seen  him 
after  he  had  swallowed  it  look  on  the  carpet  for  it  ?  So  rapid 
is  the  transit  of  the  delicious  thing  that  the  deluded  animal 
fancies  that  he  has  as  yet  enjoyed  only  the  foretaste  of  a 
pleasure  still  to  be,  the  shadow  only  of  the  coming  event, 
the  promise  of  something  good.  It  is  just  the  same  with 
yourself  after  eating  a  gopher. 

Of  course  I  went  to  see  the  stock-yards,  and  my  visit,  as 
it  happened,  had  something  of  a  special  character,  for  I  saw 
a  pig  put  through  its  performances  in  thirty-five  seconds,  A 
lively  piebald  porker  was  one  of  a  number  grunting  and 
quarrelling  in  a  pen,  and  I  was  asked  to  keep  my  eye  on 
him.  And  what  happened  to  that  porker  was  this.  He 

1  Need  I  say  that  I  do  not  refer  to  the  small  field-rat  of  that 
name? 


From  Pig  to  Pork.  1 5 

was  suddenly  seized  by  a  hind  leg,  and  jerked  up  on  to  a 
small  crane.  This  swung  him  swiftly  to  the  fatal  door 
through  which  no  pig  ever  returns.  On  the  other  side  stood 
a  man  — 

,  That  two-handed  engine  at  the  door 

Stands  ready  to  smite  once,  and  smite  no  more, 

and  the  dead  pig  shot  across  a  trough  and  through  another 
doorway,  and  then  there  was  a  splash  f  He  had  fallen  head 
first  into  a  vat  of  boiling  water.  Some  unseen  machinery 
passed  him  along  swiftly  to  the  other  end  of  the  terrible 
bath,  and  there  a  water-wheel  picked  him  up  and  flung  him 
out  on  to  a  sloping  counter.  Here  another  machine  seized 
him,  and  with  one  revolution  scraped  him  as  bald  as  a  nut. 
And  down  the  counter  he  went,  losing  his  head  as  he  slid 
past  a  man  with  a  hatchet,  and  then,  presto !  he  was  up 
again  by  the  heels.  In  one  dreadful  handful  a  man  emptied 
him,  and  while  another  squirted  him  with  fresh  water,  the 
pig — registering  his  own  weight  as  he  passed  the  teller's 
box — shot  down  the  steel  bar  from  which  he  hung,  and 
whisked  round  the  corner  into  the  ice-house.  One  long  cut 
of  a  knife  made  two  "  sides  of  pork  "  out  of  that  piebald 
pig.  Two  hacks  of  a  hatchet  brought  away  his  backbone. 
And  there,  in  thirty-five  seconds  from  his  last  grunt — dirty, 
hot-headed,  noisy — the  pig  was  hanging  up  in  two  pieces, 
clean,  tranquil,  iced  I 

The  very  rapidity  of  the  whole  process  robbed  it  of  all  its 
horrors.  It  even  added  the  ludicrous  to  it.  Here  one 
minute  was  an  opinionated  piebald  pig  making  a  prodigious 
fuss  about  having  his  hind  leg  taken  hold  of,  and  lo !  before 
he  had  even  made  up  his  mind  whether  to  squeal  or  only 
to  squeak,  he  was  hanging  up  in  an  ice-house,  split  in  two ! 
He  had  resented  the  first  trifling  liberty  that  was  taken  with 
him,  and"  in  thirty-five  seconds  he  was  ready  for  the  cook ! 


1 6  Sinners  and  Saints. 

That  the  whole  process  is  virtually  painless  is  beyond  all 
doubt,  for  it  is  only  for  the  first  fraction  of  the  thirty-odd 
seconds  that  the  pig  is  sentient,  and  I  doubt  if  even 
electricity  could  as  suddenly  and  painlessly  extinguish  life 
as  the  lightning  of  that  unerring  poniard,  "  the  dagger  of 
mercy"  and  the  instantaneous  plunge  into  the  scalding 
bath.  ' 

Of  the  Chicago  stock-yards,  a  veritable  village,  laid  out 
with  its  miniature  avenues  intersecting  its  mimic  streets  and 
numbered  blocks,  it  is  late  in  the  day  to  speak.  But  it  was 
very  interesting  in  its  way  to  see  the  poor  doomed  swine 
thoughtlessly  grunting  along  the  road,  and  inquisitively 
asking  their  way,  as  it  seemed,  of  the  sheep  in  Block  9  or  of 
the  sulky  Texan  steer  looking  out  between  the  palings  of 
Block  7  \  to  watch  the  cattle,  wild-eyed  from  distress  and 
long  journeying,  snorting  their  distrust  of  their  surroundings, 
and  trying  at  every  opportunity  to  turn  away  from  the 
terribly  straight  road  that  leads  to  death,  into  any  crossway 
that  seemed  likely  to  result  in  freedom  ;  to  see  for  the  first 
time  the  groups  of  Western  herdsmen  lounging  at  the 
corners,  while  their  unkempt  ponies,  guarded  in  most  cases 
by  drowsy  shepherd-dogs,  stood  tethered  in  bunches  against 
the  palings.  All  day  long  the  air  is  filled  with  porcine 
clamour,  and  some  of  the  pens  are  scenes  of  perpetual  riot. 
For  the  pig  does  not  chant  his  "  nunc  dimittis  "  with  any 
seemliness.  His  last  canticles  are  frivolous.  It  is  impossi- 
ble to  translate  them  into  any  "  morituri  te  salutant,"  for 
they  are  wanting  in  dignity,  and  even  self-respect.  With 
the  cattle  it  is  very  different.  But  few  of  them  were  in  such 
good  case  as  to  make  high  spirits  possible,  and  many  were 
wretched  objects  to  look  at.  Dead  calves  lay  about  in  the 
pens,  and  there  was  a  general  air  of  distress  that  made  the 
scene  abundantly  pathetic.  But,  after  all,  it  does  not  pay 


The  Sparrow  Line.  1 7 

to  starve  or  overdrive  cattle,  and  we  may  confidently  expect 
therefore,  that  in  Chicago,  of  all  places  in  the  world,  they 
are  neither  starved  nor  overdriven  systematically. 

The  English  sparrow  has  multiplied  with  characteristic 
industry  in  Chicago,  but  further  west  I  lost  it  I  saw 
none  between  Omaha  and  Salt  Lake  City.  So  the  sparrow 
line,  I  take  it,  must  be  drawn  for  the  present  somewhere 
west  of  Clinton.  I  do  not  think  it  has  crossed  the  Missis- 
sippi yet  from  the  east.  But  it  is  steadily  advancing  its 
frontiers— this  aggressive  fowl — from  both  sea-boards,  and 
just  as  it  has  pushed  itself  forward  from  the  Atlantic 
into  Illinois,  so  from  the  Pacific  it  has  got  already  as  far 
as  Nevada.  The  tyranny  of  the  sparrow  is  the  price  men 
pay  for  civilization.  Only  savages  are  exempt.  Here  in 
America,  they  have  developed  into  a  multitudinous  evil, 
dispossessing  with  a  high .  hand  the  children  of  the  soil, 
thrusting  their  Saxon  assumption  of  superiority  upon  the 
native  feathered  flock  of  grove  and  garden,  and  driving 
them  from  their  birthright.  They  have  no  respect  for 
authorities,  and  entertain  no  awe  even  for  the  Irish  aldermen 
of  New  York.  In  Australia  it  is  the  same.  Imported  as  a 
treasure,  they  have  presumed  upon  the  sentiment  of  exiled 
Englishmen  until  they  have  become  a  veritable  calamity. 
So  they  have  been  publicly  proclaimed  as  "  vermin,"  and  a 
price  set  upon  their  heads  "per hundred."  Indeed,  legis- 
latures threaten  to  stand  or  fall  upon  the  sparrow  question. 
Here  in  America,  men  and  women  began  by  putting 
nesting-boxes  for  the  birds  in  the  trees  and  at  corners 
of  houses  •  I  am  much  mistaken  if  before  long  they  do  not 
end  by  putting  up  ladders  against  the  trees  to  help  the 
cats  to  get  up  to  catch  the  sparrows. 

I  looked  everywhere  for  "  Chicago  Mountain  " — a  New 
England  joke  against  the  Phoenix  City— and  at  last  found  it 


1 8  Sinners  and  Saints. 

behind  a  house  at  the  corner  of  Pine  and  Colorado  streets. 
They  say  (in  Boston)  that  Chicago,  being  chaffed  about 
having  no  high  land  near  it,  set  to  work  to  build  itself  a 
mountain,  but  that  when  it  had  reached  its  present  moderate 
elevation  of  a  few  feet,  the  city  abandoned  the  project. 
But  I  am  inclined  to  think  that  this  fiction  is  due  to  the 
spite  of  the  New  Englanders,  who,  it  is  notorious,  have  to 
sharpen  the  noses  of  their  sheep  to  enable  them  to  reach  the 
grass  that  grows  between  the  stones ;  for  on  looking  at 
the  mountain  in  question  I  perceived  it  to  be  merely  a 
natural  sand-dune  which  it  has  not  been  thought  worth 
while  to  clear  away.  Further  to  acquaint  myself  with  the 
city,  I  went  into  sundry  "  penny  gaffs,"  or  cafes  chantants, 
and  found  them  to  my  surprise  patronized  by  groups  of  men 
sad  almost  to  melancholy.  It  was  the  music,  I  think,  that 
made  them  feel  so.  Its  effect  on  me  I  know  was  very 
chastening.  I  felt  inclined  to  lift  up  my  voice  and  howl. 
But  the  intense  gravity  of  the  company  restrained  me,  and 
I  left.  Yet  I  am  told  that  inside  these  very  places  men  stab 
each  other  with  Bowie  knives  and  shoot  each  other  with 
revolvers,  and  are  even  sometimes  quite  disagreeable  in  their 
manners.  But  so  far  as  my  own  experience  goes  I  seldom 
saw  a  gathering  so  unanimously  solemn.  I  might  even  say 
so  tearful.  It  is  possible,  of  course,  that  the  music  eventually 
maddens  them,  that  it  works  them  up  about  midnight  into 
a  homicidal  melancholy.  But  there  was  no  profligacy  of 
blood-shedding  while  I  was  there. 

They  did  not  even  offer  to  murder  a  musician. 


Rival  Fathers  of  Waters.  19 


CHAPTER  II. 

FROM    CHICAGO   TO   DENVER. 

Fathers  of  Waters — "Rich  Lands  lie  Flat" — The  Misery  River — 
Council  Bluffs— A  "Live"  town,  sir— Two  murders  :  a  contrast- 
Omaha — The  immorality  of  "writing  up  " — On  the  prairies — The 
modesty  of  "  Wish-ton- Wish  " — The  antelope's  tower  of  refuge 
— Out  of  Nebraska  into  Colorado — Man-eating  Tiger.. 

FROM  Chicago  to  Omaha  by  the  "  Chicago  and  North- 
western" route  is  not  an  exhilarating  journey.  When 
Nature  begins  to  make  anything  out  here  in  America  she 
never  seems  to  know  when  to  stop.  She  can  never  make 
a  few  of  anything.  For  instance,  it  might  have  been 
thought  that  one  or  two  hundred  miles  of  perfectly  flat  land 
was  enough  at  a  time.  But  Nature,  having  once  com- 
menced flattening  out  the  land,  cannot  leave  off.  So  all 
the  way  from  Chicago  to  Omaha  there  is  the  one  same 
pattern  of  country,  a  wilderness  of  maize-stubble  and  virgin 
land,  broken  only  for  the  first  half  of  the  way  by  occasional 
patches  of  water-oak,  and  for  the  second  half  of  willows. 

Just  on  the  frontier-line  of  these  two  vegetable  divisions  of 
the  country  lies  a  tract  of  bright  turf-land.  What  a  magician 
this  same  turf  is  !  It  -is  Wendell  Holmes,  I  think,  who 
says  that  Anglo-Saxons  emigrate  only  "  in  the  line  of  turf." 

The  better  half  of  the  journey  passed  on  Sunday,  and  the 
people  were  all  out  in  loitering,  well-dressed  groups  "  to  see 
the  train  pass,"  and  at  the  stations  where  we  stopped,  to  see 

c  2 


2O  Sinners  and  Saints. 

the  passengers,  too.  Where  they  came  from  it  was  not  easy 
to  tell,  for  the  homesteads  in  sight  were  very  few  and  far 
between.  Yet  there  they  were,  happy,  healthy,  well-to-do 
contented-looking  families,  enjoying  the  Day  of  Rest — the 
one  dissipation  of  the  hard-worked  week.  What  a  com- 
fortable connecting  link  with  the  outer  world  the  railway 
must  be  to  these  scattered  dwellers  on  this  prairie-land  ! 

So  through  Illinois  to  the  Mississippi.  How  wonderfully 
it  resembles  the  Indus  where  it  flows  past  Lower  Sind.  A 
minaret  or  two,  a  blue-tiled  cupola  and  a  clump  of  palms 
would  make  the  resemblance  of  the  Mississippi  at 
Clinton  to  the  Indus  below  Rohri  complete.  And  both 
rivers  claim  to  be  "  the  Father  of  Waters."  I  would  not 
undertake  to  decide  between  them.  In  modern  annals,  of 
course,  the  American  must  take  pre-eminence  ;  but  what 
can  surpass  the  historic  grandeur  that  dignifies  the  Indian 
stream  ? 

And  so  into  Iowa,  just  as  flat,  and  as  rich,  and  as  mono- 
tonous as  Illinois,  and  with  just  the  same  leagues  of  maize- 
stubble,  unbroken  soil,  water- oaks  and  willows.  And  then, 
in  the  deepening  twilight,  to  Cedar  Rapids,  with  the 
pleasant  sound  of  rushing  water  and  all  the  townsfolk  wait- 
ing "  to  see  the  train  "  on  their  way  from  church,  standing  in 
groups,  with  their  prayer-books  and  Bibles  in  their  hands. 

By  the  way,  what  an  admirable  significance  there  is  in 
the  care  with  which  these  young  townships  discharge  their 
duties  to  their  religion  and  the  dead.  The  church  or 
prayer-house*seems  to  be  always  one  of  the  first  and  finest 
buildings.  With  only  half-a-dozen  homesteads  in  sight  in 
some  places,  there  is  "  the  church,"  and  while  all  the  rest 
are  of  the  humblest  class  of  frame  houses,  the  church  is 
of  brick.  The  cemeteries  again.  Before  even  the  plots 
round  the  living  are  set  in  order,  "  God's  acre  "  (often 


Blue  Grass  and  Green.  2 1 

the  best  site  in  the  neighbourhood)  is  neatly  fenced  and 
laid  out. 

And  I  thought  it  somehow  a  beautiful  touch  of  national 
character,  this  reverent  providence  for  the  dead  that  are  to 
come.  And  just  before  I  went  to  sleep,  I  saw  out  in  the 
moonlit  country  a  cemetery,  and  on  the  crest  of  the  rising 
ground  stood  one  solitary  tombstone,  the  pioneer  of  the 
many — the  first  dead  settler's  grave.  In  this  new  country 
the  living  are  as  yet  in  the  majority  ! 

Awakening,  find  myself  still  in  Iowa,  and  Iowa  still  as 
flat  as  ever.  Not  spirit  enough  in  all  these  hundred  miles 
of  land  to  firk  up  even  a  hillock,  a  mound,  a  pimple.  But 
to  make  a  new  proverb,  "Rich  lands  lie  flat;"  and  Iowa,  in 
time,  will  be  able  to  feed  the  world — aye,  and  to  clothe  it  too 

In  the  mean  time  we  are  approaching  the  Missouri^ 
through  levels  in  which  the  jack-rabbit  abounds,  and  every 
farmer,  therefore,  seems  to  keep  a  greyhound  for  coursing 
the  long-eared  aborigines.  The  willows,  conscious  of 
secret  resources  of  water,  are  already  in  leaf,  and  overhead 
the  wild  ducks  and  geese  are  passing  to  their  feeding- 
grounds.  Here  I  saw  "  blue  "  grass  for  the  first  time,  and 
I  must  say  I  am  glad  that  grass  is  usually  green.  Elsewhere 
in  the  States,  English  grass  is  called  "  blue  grass ;"  but  in 
some  parts,  as  here  in  this  part  of  Iowa,  there  is  a  native 
grass  which  is  literally  blue.  And  it  is  not  an  improvement, 
so  far  as  the  effect  on  the  landscape  goes,  upon  the  old 
fashioned  colour  for  grass.  And  then  the  Missouri,  a 
muddy,  shapeless,  dissipated  stream.  The  people  on  its 
banks  call  it  "treacherous,"  and  pronounce  its  name 
"  Misery."  It  is  certainly  a  most  unprepossessing  river,  with 
its  ill-gotten  banks  of  ugly  sand,  and  its  lazy  brown  waters 
gurgling  along  in  an  overgrown,  self-satisfied  way.  It  is  a 
bullying  stream;  gives  nobody  peace  that  lives  near  it;  and 


22  Sinners  and  Saints. 

is  perpetually  trying  in  an  underhanded  sort  of  way  to 
"  scour "  out  the  foundations  of  the  hollow  columns  on 
which  the  bridges  across  it  are  built.  But  the  abundance 
of  water-fowl  upon  its  banks  and  side-waters  is  a  redeeming 
feature  for  all  who  care  to  carry  a  gun,  and  I  confess  I 
should  like  to  have  had  a  day's  leisure  at  Council  Bluffs  to 
go  out  and  have  a  shot.  The  inhabitants  of  the  place, 
however,  do  not  seem  to  be  goose-eaters,  for,  close  season 
or  not,  I  cannot  imagine .  their  permitting  flocks  of  these 
eminently  edible  birds  to  fly  circling  about  over  their  houses, 
within  forty  yards  of  the  ground.  The  wild-goose  is  pro- 
verbially a  wary  fowl,  but  here  at  Council  Bluffs  they  have 
apparently  become  from  long  immunity  as  impertinent  and 
careless  as  sparrows. 

Council  Bluffs,  as  the  pow-wow  place  of  the  Red  Men  in 
the  days  when  Iowa  was  rolling  prairie  and  bison  used 
to  browse  where  horses  plough,  has  many  a  quaint  legend 
of  the  past ;  and  in  spite  of  the  frame  houses  that  are 
clustered  below  them  and  the  superb  cobweb  bridge — it  has 
few  rivals  in  the  world — that  here  spans  the  Missouri,  the 
Bluffs,  as  the  rendezvous  of  Sagamore  and  Sachem,  stand  out 
from  the  interminable  plains  eloquent  of  a  very  picturesque 
antiquity.  And  so  to  Omaha. 

"  But  I  guess,  sir,  OmVs  a  live  town.  Yes,  sir,  a  live 
town" 

My  experiences  of  Omaha  were  too  brief  for  me  to  be  just, 
too  disagreeable  for  me  to  be  impartial.  Before  breakfast 
I  saw  a  murder  and  suicide,  and  between  breakfast  and 
luncheon  a  fire  and  several  dog-fights.  Perhaps  I  might 
have  seen  something  more.  But  a  terrible  dust-storm 
raged  in  the  streets  all  day.  Besides,  I  went  away. 

I  am  beginning  already  to  hate  "  live  "  towns. 


Two  Murders :  a  Contrast.  23 


It  was  during  the  Afghan  War.  I  had  just  ridden  back 
from  General  Roberts'  camp  in  the  Thull  Valley,  on  the 
frontiers  of  Afghanistan,  and  found  myself  stopped  on  my 
return  at  the  Kohat  Pass.  "  It  is  the  orders  of  Govern- 
ment," said  the  sentry:  "the  Pass  is  unsafe  for  travellers." 

But  I  had  to  get  through  the  Pass  whether  it  was  "  safe  " 
or  not,  for  through  it  lay  the  only  road  to  General  Browne's 
camp,  to  which  I  was  attached.  So  I  dismounted,  and 
after  a  great  deal  of  palaver,  partly  of  bribes,  partly  of  un- 
truths, I  not  only  got  past  the  native  sentries,  but  got  a 
guide  to  escort  me,  through  the  thirty  miles  of  wild  Afridi 
defiles  that  lay  before  me.  The  scenery  is,  I  think,  among 
the  finest  in  the  world,  while,  added  to  all  is  the  strange 
fascination  of  the  knowledge  that  the  people  who  live  in  the 
Pass  have  cherished  from  generation  to  generation  the 
most  vindictive  blood  feuds.  The  villages  are  surrounded 
by  high  walls,  loopholed  along  the  top,  and  the  huts  in  the 
inside  are  built  against  the  wall,  so  that  the  roofs  of  them 
can  be  used  by  the  men  of  the  village  as  lounges  during  the 
day,  and  as  ramparts  for  sentries  during  the  night.  Within 
these  sullen  squares  each  clan  lives  in  perpetual  siege.  The 
women  and  children  are  at  all  times  permitted  to  go  to 
and  fro ;  but  for  the  men,  woe  to  him  who  happens  to  stray 
within  reach  of  the  jezails  that  lie  all  ready  loaded  in  the 
loopholes  of  the  next  village.  The  crops  are  sown  and 
reaped  by  men  with  guns  slung  on  their  backs,  and  in 
the  middle  of  every  field  stands  a  martello-tower,  in  which 
the  peasants  can  take  shelter  if  neighbours  sally  out  to 
attack  them  while  at  work.  Rope-ladders  hang  from  a 
doorway  half-way  up  the  tower,  and  up  this,  like  lizards, 
the  men  scramble,  one  after  the  other,  as  soon  as  danger 


24  Sinners  and  Saints. 

threatens,  draw  in  the  ladder,  and  through  the  loop-holes 
overlook  their  menaced  crops. 

A  wonderful  country  truly,  and  something  in  the  air  to  day 
that  makes  my  guide  ride  as  hard  as  the  road  will  permit, 
with  his  sword  drawn  across  the  saddle  before  him.  My 
revolver  is  in  my  hand.  And  so  we  clatter  along,  mile  after 
mile,  through  the  beautiful  series  of  little  valleys,  grim  vil- 
lages, and  towers.  Now  and  again  a  party  of  women  will 
step  aside  to  let  us  pass,  or  a  dog  start  up  to  bark  at  us,  but 
not  a  single  man  do  we  see.  Yet  I  know  very  well  that 
hundreds  of  men  see  us  ride  by,  and  that  a  jezail  is 
lying  at  every  loophole,  and  covering  the  very  path  we  ride 
on. 

We  reach  a  sudden  turn  of  the  path ;  my  guide  gallops 
round  it.  He  is  hardly  out  of  my  sight  when  Bang! 
bang !  It  is  no  use  pulling  up,  and  the  next  instant  I  am 
round  the  corner  too.  A  man,  with  his  jezail  still  smoking 
from  the  last  shot,  starts  up  from  the  undergrowth  almost 
under  my  horse's  feet,  and  narrowly  escapes  being  ridden 
down.  Another  man  comes  running  down  the  hillside  to- 
wards him.  In  front  of  me,  some  fifty  yards  off,  is  my 
guide,  with  his  horse's  head  towards  me  and  his  sword  in  his 
hand,  and  on  the  path,  midway  between  us,  lies  a  heap  of 
brightly-coloured  clothing — a  dead  Afridi !  For  a  second 
both  guide  and  I  thought  that  it  was  we  who  had 
drawn  the  fire  from  the  ambushed  men.  But  no,  it  was 
the  poor  Afridi  lad  lying  there  in  the  path  before  us,  and  the 
victim  of  a  blood  feud.  He  had  tried,  no  doubt,  to  steal 
across  from  his  own  village  to  some  friendly  hamlet  close 
by,  but  his  lynx-eyed  enemies  had  seen  him,  and.  lying 
there  on  either  side  of  his  path,  had  shot  him  as  he 
passed. 

But  what  a  group  we  were  !     Myself,  with  my  revolver 


Two  Murders :  a  Contrast.  2  5 

in  my  hand,  looking,  horror-stricken,  now  at  the  dead,  and 
now  at  his  murderers ;  my  guide,  in  the  splendid  uniform 
of  the  Indian  irregular  cavalry,  emotionless  as  only  Orientals 
can  be ;  the  two  murderers  talking  together  excitedly ;  in 
the  middle  of  us  the  dead  lad  !  But  there  was  still  another 
figure  to  be  added,  for  suddenly,  along  the  very  path  by 
which  the  victim  had  come,  there  came  running  an  old 
woman — perhaps  she  had  followed  the  lad  with  a  mother's 
tender  anxiety  for  his  safety —  and  in  an  instant  she  saw  the 
worst.  Without  a  glance  at  any  of  us,  she  flung  herself 
down  with  the  cry  of  a  breaking  heart,  by  the  dead  boy's 
side,  and  as  my  guide  turned  to  ride  on  and  I  followed  him, 
as  the  murderers  slipped  away  into  the  undergrowth,  we 
all  heard  her  crooning,  between  her  sobs,  over  the  body  of 
her  murdered  son. 

n. 

I  was  in  Omaha.  I  had  just  crossed  Thirteenth  Street, 
and,  turning  to  look  as  I  passed,  at  the  Catholic  church, 
had  caught  an  idle  glimpse  of  the  folk  in  the  street.  Among 
them  was  a  woman  at  the  wooden  gateway  of  a  small  house, 
hesitating,  so  it  seemed  to  me  afterwards,  about  pushing  it 
open,  for  though  she  had  her  hand  upon  the  latch,  yet  she 
did  not  lift  it,  but  appeared  to  me,  at  the  distance  I  passed 
and  the  cursory  glance  I  gave,  to  be  listening  to  what  some- 
body was  saying  to  her  through  the  window.  Had  I  been 
only  a  few  yards  nearer !  At  the  moment  that  I  saw  her, 
the  wretched  woman  was  gazing  with  fixed  and  horrified 
eyes  upon  a  face — a  grim  and  cruel  face — that  glared  at  her 
from  a  window,  and  at  a  gun  that  she  saw  was  pointed  full  at 
her  breast.  And  the  next  instant,  just  as  I  had  turned  the 
corner,  there  was  the  report  of  fire-arms.  It  did  not  occur 
to  me  to  stop.  But  suddenly  I  heard  a  cry,  and  then  a 
second  shot,  and  somehow  there  flashed  upon  my  mind  the 


26  Sinners  and  Saints. 

picture  of  that  hesitating  woman  by  the  wicket,  with  her 
knitted  shawl  over  her  head,  and  the  wind  blowing  her  light 
dress  to  one  side. 

I  did  not  turn  back,  however.  For  the  woman  and  the 
shots  had  only  the  merest  flash  of  a  connexion  in  my 
mind.  But  after  a  few  steps  a  man  came  running  past  me, 
going  perhaps  for  the  doctor,  or  the  police,  or  the  coroner, 
and  the  scared  look  on  his  face  suddenly  once  more 
wrenched  back  to  my  imagination  the  woman  at  the 
wicket. 

So  I  turned  back  into  Thirteenth  Street,  and  there,  in  the 
middle  of  the  road,  with  a  man  stooping  over  her  and  two 
women,  transfixed  by  sudden  terror  into  attitudes  that 
were  most  tragic,  I  saw  the  woman  lying.  Her  face  was 
turned  up  to  the  bright  sunlit  sky,  her  shawl  had  fallen 
back  about  her  neck,  and  her  hair  lay  in  the  dust.  She  was 
already  dead.  And  her  murderer  ?  He  too  had  gone  to 
his  last  account ;  and  as  I  stood  there  in  that  dreary  Omaha 
road,  with  the  wind  raising  wisps  of  dust  about  the  horror- 
stricken  group,  and  thought  of  the  two  dead  bodies  lying 
there,  one  in  the  roadway,  the  other  in  the  house  close  by, 
my  mind  reverted  involuntarily  to  the  fancy  that  at  that  very 
moment  the  two  souls,  man  and  wife,  were  standing  before 
their  Maker,  and  that  perhaps  she,  the  poor  mangled 
woman,  was  pleading  for  mercy  for  the  man,  her  husband, 
the  lover  of  her  youth — her  murderer. 


In  the  evening,  when  a  cool  breeze  was  blowing,  and  imagi- 
nation pictured  the  trees  holding  up  screens  of  green  foliage 
before  the  hotel  windows  to  shut  out  the  ugly  views  of  half- 
built  streets,  I  entertained  feelings  that  were  almost  kindly 
towards  Omaha;  but  the  memory  of  the  day  that  was 


A  "Live"  Town,  Sir.  27 

happily  past,  as  often  as  it  recurred  to  me,  changed  them  to 
gall  again.  All  day  long  there  had  been  a  flaring,  glaring 
sun  overhead  and  the  wind  that  was  blowing  would  have  done 
credit  to  the  deserts  through  which  I  have  since  marched  with 
the  army  in  Egypt.  It  went  howling  down  the  street  with  the 
voices  of  wild  beasts,  and  carried  with  it  such  simooms  of 
sand  as  would  probably  in  a  week  overwhelm  and  bury  in 
Ninevite  oblivion  the  buildings  of  this  aspiring  town.  And 
not  only  sand,  but  whirlwinds  of  vulgar  dust  also,  with  occa- 
sional discharges  of  cinders,  that  came  rushing  along  the 
road,  picking  up  all  the  rubbish  it  could  find,  dodging  up 
alleys  and  coming  out  again  with  accumulations  of  straw, 
rampaging  into  courtyards  in  search  of  paper  and  rags, 
standing  still  in  the  middle  of  the  roadway  to  whirl,  and 
altogether  behaving  itself  just  as  a  disreputable  and  aggres- 
sive vagabond  may  be  always  expected  to  behave.  Of 
course  I  was  told  it  was  a  "  very  exceptional "  day. 
It  always  is  a  "very  exceptional  day"  wHerever  a 
stranger  goes.  But  I  must  confess  that  I  never  saw  any 
place — except  Aden,  and  perhaps  East  London,  in  South 
Africa— that  struck  me  on  short  acquaintance  as  so 
thoroughly  undesirable  for  a  lengthened  abode.  The  big 
black  swine  rooting  about  in  the  back  yards,  the  little  black 
boys  playing  drearily  at  "  marbles  "  with  bits  of  stone,  the 
multitude  of  dogs  loafing  on  the  sidewalks,  the  depressing 
irregularity  of  the  streets,  the  paucity  of  shade-trees,  the 
sandy  bluffs  that  dominate  the  town  and  hold  over  the  heads 
of  the  inhabitants  the  perpetual  threat  of  siroccos,  and  the 
general  appearance  (however  false  it  may  have  been)  of 
disorder — all  combined  with  various  degrees  of  force  to  give 
the  impression  that  Omaha  is  a  place  that  had  from  some  cause 
or  another  been  suddenly  checked  in  its  natural  expansion. 
Its  geographical  position  is  indisputably  a  commanding 


28  Sinners  and  Saints. 

one,  and  already  the  great  smelting  works,  with  one  ex- 
ception the  busiest  in  the  States,  the  splendid  workshops  of 
the  Union  Pacific  Railway,  and  the  thriving  distillery  close 
by,  give  promise  of  the  great  industries  which  in  the  future 
this  town,  with  its  wonderful  advantages  of  communication, 
as  the  meeting-point  of  great  railway  high-roads,  will  attract 
to  itself.  Omaha  has  an  admirable  opera-house,  and  when 
its  hotel  is  rebuilt  it  will  be  able  to  offer  visitors  good 
accommodation.  It  has  also  an  imposing  school-house  im- 
posingly advertised  by  being  on  top  of  a  hill,  and  the 
refining  grace  of  gardens  is  not  completely  absent,  while  the 
"  stove-pipe  "  hat  gives  fragmentary  evidence  of  advanced 
civilization.  But  all  this  affords  encouragement  for  the 
future  only ;  at  present  Omaha  is  a  depressing  spot.  And 
so  I  left  the  town  without  regret ;  but  I  did  not  make 
any  effort  to  shake  off  the  dust  of  Omaha.  That  was  im- 
possible ;  it  had  penetrated  the  texture  of  my  clothing  so 
completely  that  nothing  but  shredding  my  garments  into 
their  original  threads  would  have  sufficed. 

Now  I  had  read  something  of  Omaha  before  I  went 
there,  had  seen  it  called  "  a  splendid  Western  city,"  and 
been  invited  to  linger  there  to  examine  its  "  dozens  of  noble 
monuments  to  invincible  enterprise,"  which,  with  "  the  dozen 
or  more  church  spires,"  are  supposed  to  break  the  sky-line 
of  the  view  of  this  "  metropolis  of  the  North-western  States 
'and  Territories."  It  is  possible,  therefore,  that  my  profound 
disappointment  with  the  reality,  after  reading  such  exagge- 
rated description,  may  have  tinged  my  opinion  of  Omaha, 
and,  combined  with  the  unfortunately  "  exceptional "  day 
I  spent  there,  have  made  me  think  very  poorly  of  the  former 
capital  of  Nebraska.  That  it  has  a  great  future  before  it,  its 
position  alone  guarantees,  and  the  enterprise  of  Nebraska 
puts  beyond  all  doubt ;  but  the  sight-seer  going  19  Omaha, 


Fiction  and  Fact.  29 

and  expecting  to  find  it  anything  but  a  very  new  town  on  a 
very  unprepossessing  site,  will  be  as  greatly  disappointed  as 
I  was. 

Equally  unfortunate  is  the  "  writing  up  "  which  the  Valley 
of  the  Platte  has  received.  Who,  for  instance,  that  has 
travelled  on  the  railway  along  that  great  void  can  read  with- 
out annoyance  of  "  beautiful  valley  landscapes,  in  which 
thousands  of  productive  farms,  fine  farm-houses,  blossoming 
orchards,  and  thriving  cities "  are  features  of  the  country 
traversed  ?  No  one  can  charge  me  with  a  want  of  sympathy 
with  the  true  significance  of  this  wonderful  Western  country. 
And  I  can  say,  therefore,  without  hesitation  that  the  dreari- 
ness of  the  country  between  Omaha  and  Denver  Junction  is 
almost  inconceivable.  There  is  hardly  even  a  town  worth 
calling  such  in  sight,  much  less  "thriving  cities."  The 
original  prairie  lies  there  spread  out,  on  either  hand,  in 
nearly  all  its  original  barrenness.  Interminable  plains,  that 
occasionally  roll  into  waves,  stretch  away  to  the  horizon  to 
right  and  left,  dotted  with  skeletons  of  dead  cattle  and 
widely  scattered  herds  of  living  ones.  Here  and  there  a 
cow-boy's  shed,  and  here  and  there  a  ranch  of  the  ordinary 
primitive  type,  and  here  and  there  a  dug-out,  are  all  the 
"  features  "  of  the  long  ride.  An  occasional  emigrant  waggon 
perhaps  breaks  the  dull,  dead  monotony  of  the  landscape, 
and  in  one  place  there  is  a  solitary  bush  upon  a  mound.  A 
hawk  floats  in  the  air  above  a  prairie-dog  village.  A  plove$ 
sweeps  past  with  its  melancholy  cry. 

No,  the  journey  to  North  Platte — where  a  very  bad  break- 
fast was  put  before  us  at  a  dollar  a  head— is  not  attractive. 
But  here  again  it  is  the  Possible  in  the  future  that  makes  the 
now  desolate  scene  so  full  of  interest  and  so  splendidly 
significant.  As  a  grazing  country  it  can  never,  perhaps,  be 
very  populous ;  but  in  time,  of  course,  those  ranches,  now 


3O  Sinners  and  Saints. 

struggling  so  bravely  against  terrible  odds,  will  become 
"  fine  farm-houses,"  and  have  "  blossoming  orchards  "  about 
them.  But  as  yet  these  things  are  not,  and  for  good,  all- 
round  dreariness  I  would  not  know  where  to  send  a  friend 
with  such  confidence  as  to  the  pastures  between  Omaha  and 
North  Platte. 

Oh  !  when  are  we  to  have  Pullman  palace  balloons  ? 
Condemned  to  travel,  my  soul  and  my  bones  cry  out  for 
air- voyaging. 

That  some  day  man  should  fly  like  a  bird  has  been,  in 
spite  of  superstition,  an  article  of  honest  belief  from  the 
beginning  of  time,  and  in  the  dove  of  Archytas  alone  we 
have  proof  enough  that,  even  in  those  days,  the  successful 
accomplishment  of  flight  was  accepted  as  a  fact  of  science. 
During  the  Middle  Ages  so  common  was  this  belief  that 
every  man  who  dabbled  in  physics  was  pronounced  a  magi- 
cian, and  as  such  was  credited  with  the  power  of  transport- 
ing himself  through  the  air  at  will.  Some,  indeed,  actually 
claimed  the  enviable  privilege,  Friar  Bacon  among  others. 
But  history  records  no  practical  illustration  of  their  control 
of  the  air,  while  more  than  one  death  is  chronicled  of  daring 
men  who,  with  insufficient  apparatus,  launched  themselves 
in  imitation  of  birds  upon  space,  and  fell,  more  or  less 
precipitately,  to  earth.  The  Italian  who  flapped  himself  off 
Stirling  Castle  trusted  only  to  a  pair  of  huge  feather  wings, 
^vhich  he  had  tied  on  to  his  arms,  and  got  no  farther  on  his 
way  to  France  than  the  heads  of  the  spectators  at  the  bottom 
of  the  wall ;  while  the  Monk  of  Tubingen  started  on  his 
journey  from  the  top  of  his  tower  with  apparatus  that  im- 
mediately turned  inside  out,  and  increased  by  its  weight  the 
momentum  with  which  he  came  down  plumb  into  the  street. 

Beyond  North  Platte  the  same  melancholy  expanses  again 
commence,  the  same  rolling  prairies,  with  the  same  dead 


The  Modesty  of  Prairie-dogs.  31 

cattle  and  the  same  herds  of  live  ones,  an  occasional  waggon 
or  a  stock -yard  or  snow-fence  being  all  that  interrupts  the 
flat  monotony.  But  approaching  Sterling  a  suspicion  of 
verdure  begins  in  places  to  steal  over  the  grey  prairie,  and 
flights  of  "  larks,"  with  a  bright,  pleasant  note,  give  some- 
thing of  an  air  of  animation  to  isolated  spots.  Here  is  a 
plough  at  work,  the  first  we  have  passed,  I  think,  since  we 
left  Omaha,  and  the  plover  piping  overhead  seem  to  resent 
the  novelty.  Cattle  continue  to  dot  the  landscape,  and  all 
the  afternoon  the  Platte  rolls  along  a  sluggish  stream  parallel 
to  the  track. 

The  train  happened  to  slacken  pace  at  one  point,  and  a 
man  came  up  to  the  cars.  He  was  a  beggar,  and  asked  our 
help  to  get  along  the  road  "eastward."  One  of  his  arms 
was  in  a  sling  from  an  accident,  and  his  whole  appearance 
eloquent  of  utter  destitution.  And  the  very  landscape 
pleaded  for  him.  Beggary  at  any  time  must  be  wretched- 
ness, but  here  in  this  bleak  waste  of  pasturage  it  must  almost 
be  despair.  And  as  the  train  sped  on,  the  one  dismal  figure 
creeping  along  by  the  side  of  the  track,  with  the  dark  clouds 
of  a  snowstorm  coming  up  to  meet  him,  was  strangely 
pathetic. 

And  then  Sterling.  May  Sterling  be  forgiven  for  the 
dinner  it  set  before  us  ! 

And  then  on  again,  across  long  leagues  of  level  plain, 
thickly  studded  with  prickly  pear  patches  and  seamed  with  * 
the  old  bison  and  antelope  tracks  leading  down  from  the 
hills  to  the  river.  There  are  no  bison  now.  They  cannot 
stand  before  the  stove-pipe  hat.  The  sombreroed  hunter, 
with  his  lasso,  the  necklace  of  death,  was  an  annoyance  to 
them ;  they  spent  their  lives  dodging  him.  The  befeathered 
Indian,  "the  chivalry  of  the  prairie,"  who  pincushioned 
their  hides  full  of  arrows,  was  a  terror  to  them,  and  they  fell 


32  Sinners  and  Saints. 

by  thousands.  But  before  the  stove-pipe  hat  the  bison 
fled  incontinently  by  the  herd,  and  have  never  returned. 

The  prairie-dogs  peep  out  of  their  holes  at  us  as  we 
passed.  The  bashfulness  of  "  Wish-ton- Wish,"  as  the  Red 
Man  calls  the  prairie-dog,  is  as  nearly  impudence  as 
one  thing  can  be  another.  It  sits  up  perkily  on  one 
end  at  the  edge  of  its  hole  till  you  are  close  upon  it, 
and  then,  with  a  sudden  affectation  of  being  shocked  at  its 
own  immodesty,  dives  headlong  into  its  hole  ;  but  its  hind- 
legs  are  not  out  of  sight  before  the  head  is  up  again,  and  the 
next  instant  there  is  the  prairie-dog  sitting  exactly  where  you 
first  saw  it !  Such  a  burlesque  of  shyness  I  never  saw  in  a 
quadruped  before. 

A  solitary  coyote  was  loitering  in  a  hungry  way  along  a 
gulch,  and  I  could  not  help  thinking  how  the  most  important 
epochs  of  one's  life  may  often  turn  upon  the  merest  trifles. 
Now,  here  was  a  coyote  ambling  lazily  up  a  certain  gulch 
because  it  had  happened  to  see  some  white  bones  bleaching 
a  little  way  up  it.  But  in  the  very  next  gulch,  which  the 
coyote  had  not  happened  to  go  up,  were  three  half-bred 
greyhounds  idling  about,  just  in  the  humour  for  something 
to  run  after.  But  they  could  not  see  the  coyote,  though  it 
was  really  only  a  few  yards  off,  nor  could  the  coyote  see 
them.  So  the  dogs  lounged  about  in  a  listless,  do-nothing, 
tired-of-life  sort  of  way,  thinking  existence  as  dull  as  ditch 
water,  while  the  coyote,  unconscious  of  the  narrow  escape 
of  its  life  that  it  ran,  trotted  slowly  along — scrutinized  the 
old  bones — scratched  its  head — yawned  out  of  sheer  ennui, 
and  then  trotted  along  again.  Now,  what  a  difference  it 
would  have  made  to  those  three  dogs  if  they  had  only 
happened  to  loaf  into  the  next  gulch !  And  what  a  pro- 
digious difference  it  would  have  made  to  the  coyote  if  it  had 
happened  to  loaf  into  the  next  gulch  ! 


The  Antelope's  Tower  of  Refuge.         33 

The  prickly  pear,  that  ugly,  fleshy  little  cactus,  with  its 
sudden  summer  glories  of  crimson  and  golden  blossoms, 
fulfils  a  strange  purpose  in  the  animal  economy  of  the 
prairies.  In  itself  it  appears  to  be  one  of  the  veriest  out- 
casts among  vegetables,  execrated  by  man  and  refused  as 
food  by  beast.  Yet  if  it  were  not  for  this  plant  the  herds 
of  prairie  antelope  would  have  fared  badly  enough,  for 
the  antelope,  whenever  they  found  themselves  in  straits 
from  wolves  or  from  dogs,  made  straight  for  the  prickly 
pear  patches  and  belts,  and  there,  standing  right  out  on  the 
barren,  open  plain,  defied  their  swift  but  tender-footed  pur- 
suers to  come  near  them.  For  the  small,  thick  pads  of  the 
cactus,  though  they  lie  so  flat  and  insignificantly  upon  the 
ground,  are  studded  with  tufts  of  strong,  fierce  spines,  and 
woe  to  the  wolf  or  the  dog  that  treads  upon  them.  The 
antelope's  hoofs,  however,  are  proof  against  the  spines,  and 
one  leap  across  such  a  belt  suffices  to  place  the  horned  folk 
in  safety.  These  patches  and  belts,  then,  so  trivial  to  the 
eye,  and  in  some  places  almost  invisible  to  the  cursory 
glance,  are  in  reality  Towers  of  Refuge  to  the  great  edible 
division  of  the  wild  prairie  nations,  and  as  impassable  to  the 
eaters  as  was  that  girdle  of  fire  and  steel  which  Von  Moltke 
buckled  so  closely  round  the  city  of  the  Napoleons. 

But  here  we  are  approaching  Denver.  The  cottonwood 
has  mustered  into  clusters,  a  prototype  of  the  future  of  these 
now  scattered  ranches.  Dotted  about  here  and  there  in 
suitable  corners,  on  river  bank  or  under  sheltering  bluff, 
single  trees  are  growing  side  by  side  with  single  stockyards 
or  single  cow-boys'  huts,  but  every  now  and  again,  where 
nature  offers  them  a  good  site  for  a  colony,  the  trees  congre- 
gate, select  lots,  and  permanently  locate.  It  is  not  very 
different  after  all,  with  human  beings. 

Nature    here    is    undoubtedly    tempting,    and    Denver 


34  Sinners  and  Saints. 

itself  must  surely  be  one  of  the  most  beautiful  towns  in 
the  States.  Through  great  reaches  of  splendid  farm-land, 
with  water  in  abundance  and  the  cottonwood  and  willow 
growing  thickly,  we  pass  to  our  destination  as  the  twilight 
settles  on  the  country. 

A  whole  day  has  again  been  spent  in  the  train!  We  had 
awaked  in  the  morning  to  see  from  the  car  windows  the 
people  of  Nebraska  going  out  to  their  day's  work  in  the 
fields,  and  here  in  the  evening  we  sit  and  watch  the  Colo- 
rado folk  coming  home  to  their  rest  after  the  day's  work  is 
over.  Truly  this  steam  is  a  Latter-Day  apocalypse  and  this 
America  a  land  of  magnificent  distances. 

I  found  out  on  this  trip  that  my  fellow-travellers  (and  the 
fact  holds  good  nearly  all  over  America)  took  the  greatest 
interest  in  British  India,  and  finding  that  I  had  spent  so 
many  years  there,  they  plied  me  with  questions.  On  some 
journeys  it  would  be  the  political  aspect  of  our  government 
of  Hindostan  that  interested,  at  others  the  commercial  or 
the  social.  But  going  through  Colorado,  one  of  the  haunts 
of  the  "  grizzly  "  and  the  "  mountain  lion,"  I  had  to  detail 
my  experiences  of  sport  in  India.  Above  all,  the  tiger 
interested  them.  It  is  the  only  animal  in  the  world  that 
may  be  said  to  give  the  grizzly  a  point  or  two.  And  there 
are  some  even  who  deny  this ;  but  I,  who  have  shot  the 
tiger,  and  never  seen  a  grizzly,  naturally  concede  the  first 
place  in  perilous  courage  to  Stripes,  the  raja  of  the 
jungle.  In  one  particular  aspect,  at  any  rate,  the  tiger  is 
supreme  among  quadrupeds.  It  has  the  splendid  audacity 
to  make  man  his  regular  food. 

Now,  it  is  generally  supposed  that  the  "  man-eater " 
is  a  specially  formidable  variety  of  the  species  ;  that  it  is 
only  the  boldest,  strongest,  and  fiercest  of  the  tigers  that 
preys  on  man.  But  the  very  reverse  is  of  course  the  truth. 


Man-eating  Tigers.  35 

When  hale  and  strong  the  tiger  avoids  the  vicinity  of  men, 
finding  abundant  food  in  the  herds  of  deer  and  other  wild 
animals  that  share  his  jungles.  But  when  strength  and 
speed  of  limb  begin  to  fail,  the  brute  has  to  look  for  easier 
prey  than  the  courageous  bison  or  wind-footed  antelope,  and 
so  skulks  among  the  ravines  and  waste  patches  of  woodland 
that  are  to  be  found  about  nearly  every  village.  Then  when 
twilight  obscures  the  scene,  he  creeps  out  noiseless  as  a 
shadow,  and  lies  in  ambush  in  a  crop  of  standing  grain  or 
bhair-tree  brake,  and  watches  the  country  folk  go  by  from 
the  fields  in  twos  and  threes,  driving  their  plough  cattle 
before  them.  After  a  while,  there  comes  sauntering  past 
alone,  a  man  or  a  woman  who  has  lagged  behind  the  com- 
pany ;  yet  not  so  far  behind  but  that  the  friends  ahead  can 
hear  the  scream  which  tells  of  the  tiger's  leap,  though  too 
far  for  help  to  be  of  use.  During  four  years  350  human 
beings  and  24,000  head  of  cattle  were  killed  by  these 
animals  in  one  district  in  Bombay,  while  many  single  tigers 
have  been  known  to  destroy  over  a  hundred  people  before 
they  were  shot.  One  in  the  Mandla  district  caused  the  de- 
sertion of  thirteen  villages  and  threw  out  of  cultivation  two 
hundred  and  fifty  square  miles  of  country ;  while  another, 
only  one  of  many  similar  cases,  was  credited  with  the  appal- 
ling total  of  eighty  human  victims  per  annum  !  The  yearly 
loss  in  cattle  and  by  decrease  of  cultivation  through  the 
ravages  of  these  fearful  beasts  has  been  estimated  at  ten 
million  pounds  sterling  ! 

No  wonder,  then,  that  even  these  doughty  grizzly-slayers 
of  the  Rockies  respect  the  tiger's  name. 


D  2 


36  Sinners  and  Saints. 


CHAPTER  III. 

IN    LEADVILLE. 

The  South  Park  line — Oscar  Wilde  on  sunflowers  as  food — In  a 
wash-hand  basin — Anti- Vigilance  Committees — Leadville  the  city 
of  the  carbonates — "Busted"  millionaires— The  philosophy  of 
thick  boots — Colorado  miners — National  competition  in  lions — 
Abuse  of  the  terms  "gentleman"  and  "  lady" — Up  at  the  mines 
— Under  the  pine-trees. 

STARTING  from  Denver  for  Leadville  in  the  evening,  it 
seemed  as  if  we  were  fated  to  see  nothing  of  the  very 
interesting  country  through  which  the  South  Park  line 
runs.  At  first  there  is  nothing  to  look  at  but  open  prairie 
land  sprinkled  with  the  homesteads  of  agricultural  pioneers, 
but  as  the  moon  got  up  there  was  gradually  revealed 
a  stately  succession  of  mountain  ridges,  and  in  about 
two  hours  we  found  ourselves  threading  the  spurs  of  the 
Sangre  di  Christi  range  and  following  the  Platte  River  up 
toward  its  sources.  Crossing  and  recrossing  the  canon,  with 
one  side  silvered,  and  the  other  thrown  into  the  blackest 
shadow  by  the  moon,  and  the  noisy  stream  tumbling  along 
beside  us  in  its  hurry  to  get  down  to  the  lazy  levels  of  the 
great  Nebraska  Valley,  I  saw  glimpses  of  scenery  that 
can  never  be  forgotten.  It  was  fantastic  in  the  extreme ; 
for  apart  from  the  jugglery  of  moonlight,  in  itself  so  won- 
derful always,  the  ideas  of  relative  distance  and  size,  even 
of  shape,  were  upset  and  ridiculed  by  the  snowy  peaks 
that  here  and  there  thrust  themselves  up  into  the  sky  and  by 


Feats  of  Engineering.  37 

the  patches  and  streaks  of  snow  that  concealed  and  altered 
the  contour  of  the  nearer  rocks  in  the  most  puzzling  manner 
imaginable.  And  all  this  time  the  little  train — for  the  line 
is  narrow-gauge — kept  twisting  and  wriggling  in  and  out  as  if 
\t  were  in  collusion  with  the  hills,  and  playing  into  their 
hands  to  disconcert  the  traveller. 

I  have  seen  at  different  times  great  curiosities  of  engineer- 
ing, as  in  travelling  over  the  Ghats  in  Western  India,  where 
everything  is  stupendous  and  at  times  even  terrific,  where 
danger  seems  perpetual  arid  disaster  often  inevitable.  In 
passing  by  train  from  Colombo  to  Kandy  in  Ceylon,  and 
crossing  Sensation  Rock,  the  railway  cars  actually  hang 
over  the  precipice,  so  that  when  you  look  out  of  the  window 
the  track  on  which  you  are  running  is  invisible,  and  you  can 
drop  an  orange  plumb  down  the  face  of  this  appalling  clift 
on  to  the  tops  of  the  palm-trees,  which  look  like  little  round 
bushes  in  the  valley  down  below.  From  Durban  to  Pieter- 
maritzburg  again,  on  the  line  along  which,  when  it  was  first 
opened,  the  engine-driver  brought  out  from  England  refused 
to  take  his  train,  declaring  it  to  be  too  dangerous,  but  along 
which,  nevertheless,  the  British  troops  going  up  to  Zululand 
were  all  safely  carried.  The  South  Park  line,  however,  can 
compare  with  these,  and  must  be  accepted  as  one  of  the 
acknowledged  triumphs  of  railway  enterprise.  For  much  of 
its  length  the  rocks  had  to  be  fought  inch  by  inch,  and  they 
died  hard.  The  result  to-day  is  a  very  picturesque  and 
interesting  ride,  with  a  surprise  in  every  mile  and  beauty  all 
the  way. 

On  the  way  to  the  "  City  of  the  Carbonates,"  I  heard  much 
of  Leadville  ways  and  life.  That  very  morning  the  ener- 
getic police  of  the  town  had  arrested  two  young  ladies  for 
parading  the  sunflower  and  the  lily  too  conspicuously.  One 
had  donned  a  sunflower  for  a  hat,  the  other  walked  along 


38  Sinners  and  Saints. 

holding  a  tall  lily  in  her  hand.  The  Leadville  youth  had 
gathered  in  disorderly  procession  behind  the  aesthetic  pair. 
So  the  police  arrested  the  fair  causes  of  the  disturbance. 

I  told  Oscar  Wilde  of  this  a  few  days  later.  "  Poor  sweet 
things  !  "  said  he ;  "  martyrs  in  the  cause  of  the  Beautiful." 
He  was  on  his  way  to  Salt  Lake  City  at  the  time,  and  I  told 
him  how  the  Mormon  capital  was  par  excellence  "the  city 
of  sunflowers,"  and  assured  him  that  the  poet's  feeding  on 
"  gilliflowers  rare  "  was  not,  after  all,  too  violent  a  stretch  of 
imagination,  as  whole  tribes  of  Indians  (and  Longfellow 
himself  has  said  that  every  Indian  is  a  poem,  which  is  very 
nearly  the  same  thing  as  a  poet)  feed  on  the  sunflower.  The 
Apostle  of  Art  Decoration  was  delighted. 

"  Poor  sweet  things  !  "  said  he  ;  "  feed  on  sunflowers  ! 
How  charming  !  If  I  could  only  have  stayed  and  dined 
with  them  !  But  how  delightful  to  be  able  to  go  back  to 
England  and  say  that  I  have  actually  been  in  a  country 
where  whole  tribes  of  men  live  on  sunflowers  !  The  precious- 
ness  of  it ! " 

It  is  a  fact,  probably  new  to  some  of  my  readers,  that  the 
wild  sunflower  is  the  characteristic  weed  of  Utah,  and  that 
the  seeds  of  the  plant  supply  the  undiscriminating  Red  Man 
with  an  oil-cake  which  may  agreeably  vary  a  diet  of  grass- 
hoppers and  rattlesnakes,  but  has  not  intrinsically  any  flavour 
to  recommend  it.  So  South  Kensington  must  not  rush 
away  with  the  idea  that  the  noble  savage  who  has  the  Crow 
for  his  "  totem,"  feeds  upon  the  blossoms  of  the  vegetable 
they  worship.  It  is  the  prosaic  oil-cake  that  the  Pi-ute  eats. 

But  all  I  heard  got  mixed  up  eventually  into  a  general 
idea  that  every  man  in  the  place  who  had  not  committed 
a  murder  was  a  millionaire,  and  all  those  who  had  not 
lost  their  lives  had  lost  a  fortune.  The  mines,  too,  got 
gradually  sorted  up  into  two  kinds — those  that  had  "  five 


An  Anti-Vigilance  Committee.  39 

million  now  in  sight,  sir,"  or  those  whose  "bottoms  had 
fallen  out."  But  one  fact  that  pleased  me  particularly 
was  the  "  Anti-Vigilance  "  Committee  of  Leadville.  Every 
one  knows  that  a  "  Vigilance  Committee  "  consists  of  a 
certain  number  of  volunteer  guardians  of  the  peace,  who 
call  (with  a  rope)  upon  strangers  visiting  their  neighbour- 
hood and  offer  them  the  choice  of  being  hanged  at  once 
for  the  offences  they  purpose  committing  or  of  going  else- 
where to  commit  them.  The  strangers,  as  it  transpires  in 
the  morning,  sometimes  choose  one  course  and  sometimes 
the  other.  This  is  all  very  right  and  proper,  and  conduces 
to  a  general  good  understanding.  But  in  Leadville,  the 
citizens  started  an  anti-vigilance  committee  and  so  the  Vigi- 
lance Committee  sent  in  their  resignations  to  themselves — 
and  accepted  them.  I  do  not  think  I  ever  heard  of  a  fact 
so  appalling  in  its  significance.  But  the  humour  of  it  is 
that  the  Anti-Vigilance  Committee  managed  somehow  to 
keep  the  peace  in  Leadville  as  it  had  never  been  kept  before. 

It  reminded  me  of  an  incident  of  the  Afghan  war.  A 
certain  tribe  of  hill-men  persisted  in  killing  the  couriers 
who  carried  the  post  from  one  British  camp  to  the  o'ther, 
and  the  generals  were  nearly  at  their  "wits'  end  for  means  of 
communication,  when  the  murderers  sent  in  word  offering 
to  carry  the  post  themselves — and  did  so,  faithfully ! 

It  was  in  Leadville  also  that  lived  the  barber  who,  going 
forth  one  night,  was  met  by  two  men  who  told  him  peremp- 
torily to  take  his  hands  out  of  his  pockets,  as  they  intended 
to  take  out  all  the  rest.  But  he  had  nothing  in  his  pockets 
except  two  Derringers,  so  he  pulled  his  hands  out  and  shot 
the  two  men  dead  where  they  stood.  Next  morning  the 
citizens  of  Leadville  placed  the  barber  in  a  triumphal  chair, 
and  carried  him  round  the  town  as  a  bright  example  to  the 
public,  presented  him  with  a  gold  watch  and  chain  as  a 


40  Sinners  and  Saints. 

testimonial  of  their  esteem  for  his  courage — and  then 
escorted  him  the  first  stage  out  of  the  town,  advising  him 
never  to  return. 

But  this  was  in  the  Leadville  of  the  very  remote  past — 
1880  or  thereabouts — and  not  in  the  Carbonate  City  of  the 
present,  1882.  The  town  is  now  as  quiet  as  such  a  town 
can  be,  a  wonderfully  busy  place  and  a  picturesque  one. 

And  while  my  companions  talked  I  sat  in  the  wash- 
hand  basin  and  smoked.  Why  the  wash-hand  basin? 
Because  there  was  nowhere  else  to  sit.  The  "  smoking-car  " 
of  this  particular  train  happened  to  be  also  the  gentlemen's 
lavatory,  a  commodious  snuggery  measuring  about  eight 
feet  by  five.  And  as  there  were  only  eight  smokers  on 
board  we  were  not  so  crowded  as  we  should  have  been  if 
there  had  been  eighteen,  and  then,  you  see,  we  made  more 
room  still  by  two  of  the  eight  staying  away.  For  the  rest, 
two  of  us  sat  in  the  wash-hand  basins,  one  on  a  stool 
between  our  legs,  another  on  a  stool  with  his  knees  against 
the  gentlemen  opposite,  and  the  balance  stood.  We  were 
an  example  of  tight  packing  even  to  the  proverbial  sardine. 
But  I  found  the  water-tap  at  the  edge  of  the  basin  an  incon- 
venient circumstance.'  I  would  venture  to  suggest  to 
American  railway  companies  that  for  the  comfort  of 
smokers  when  sitting  in  the  basins  they  should  place  these 
taps  a  little  farther  back. 

I  suppose  I  ought  to  give  some  mining  statistics  about 
Leadville.  But  the  very  fact  that  I  shall  be  neglecting  an 
obvious  duty  if  I  omit  all  statistics,  nearly  decides  me  to 
omit  them.  The  deliberate  neglect  of  an  obvious  duty  is, 
however,  a  luxury  which  only  the  very  virtuous  can  indulge 
in ;  and  to  compromise  therefore  with  the  situation,  I  would 
state  that  the  mining  output  of  Leadville  is  to-day  about 
eleven  times  as  great  as  it  was  two  years  ago,  and  that  five 


Busted  Financiers.  41 


years  ago  there  was  no  output  at  all.  That  is  to  say,  this 
town  of  Leadville,  with  a  population,  floating  and  perma- 
nent together,  of  some  40,000  souls,  and  yielding  from  its 
mines  about  a  thousand  dollars  per  head  of  the  total  popu- 
lation, was  five  years  ago  a  camp  of  a  few  hundred 
miners,  as  a  rule  so  disappointed  with  the  prospect  of  the 
place  that  another  year  of  the  status  quo  would  have  seen 
Leadville  deserted.  But  the  secret  of  the  carbonates 
being  "  ore-iferous "  was  discovered,  and  Tabor,  like  the 
fossil  of  some  antediluvian  giant,  was  gradually  revealed  by 
the  pick  of  the  miner,  in  all  his  Plutocratic  bulk.  A  few 
years  ago  he  was  selling  peanuts  at  the  corner  of  a  street. 
To-day  he  moves  about,  king  of  Denver,  with  Leadville  for 
an  appanage.  His  potentiality  in  cheques  increases  yearly 
by  another  cipher  added  to  the  total,  and  drags  at  each 
remove  a  lengthening  chain  of  wealth.  Why  do  men  go  on 
accumulating  money  when  they  are  already  masters  of  enough  ? 
Surely  it  is  better  to  be  rich  than  a  pauper  ?  But  in  Colo- 
rado this  is  not  the  general  opinion.  Men  there  prefer  to 
be  ruined  rather  than  be  merely  rich.  And  the  result  is 
that  you  could  hardly  throw  a  boot  out  of  the  hotel  win- 
dow without  hitting  an  ex-millionaire.  Not  that  I  would 
advise  anybody  to  go  throwing  boots  promiscuously  out  of 
hotel  windows  in  Leadville.  You  would  run  a  good  chance 
of  following  your  boots. 

"  Do  you  see  that  man  there,  paring  his  boot  with  a 
knife  ?"  asked  my  companion. 

"  Yes,"  said  I,  "  I  see  him  ;  there  is  a  good  deal  of  him 
to  see." 

"  Well,"  said  he,  "  that's  So-and-so.  He  sold  so-and-so 
for  $400,000  about  a  year  ago.  But  he  busted  last  Fall. 
And  if  you  get  into  conversation  with  him,  he'll  be  glad  to 
borrow  a  dollar  from  you." 


42  Sinners  and  Saints. 

"  Then  I  shall  not  get  into  conversation  with  him,"  I 
replied. 

"And  do  you  see  that  old  fellow  on  the  other  side, 
leaning  against  the  hitching  post,  outside  the  Post 
Office?" 

"  Well,"  said  I,  "  they  seem  to  be  mostly  leaning  against 
the  hitching- post,  but  I  presume  you  mean  the  gentleman 
in  the  middle." 

«'  Yes,"  was  the  reply.  "  That's  So-and-so.  He  struck 
the  so-and-so,  got  $80,000  for  his  share  about  six  weeks 
ago — and  is  busted." 

And  so  on  ad  infinitum.  The  problem  was  a  very 
puzzling  one  to  me  at  first — why  do  such  men  make  for- 
tunes if  they  take  the  first  opportunity  of  throwing  them 
away  ?  But  the  solution,  I  fancy,  is  this — that  these  men 
do  not  care  for  money.  It  is  to  them  what  knowledge  is 
to  the  philosopher,  a  means  of  acquiring  more — worthless  in 
itself,  but,  as  leading  to  larger  results,  worthy  of  all  eager- 
ness in  its  pursuit.  They  do  not  put  Wealth  before  them- 
selves as  an  accumulation  of  current  coins,  capable  of  pur- 
chasing everything  that  makes  life  materially  pleasant.  They 
contemplate  it  merely  in  the  bulk.  Much  in  the  same  way 
a  whaler  never  thinks  of  the  number  of  candles  in  the 
spermaceti  into  which  he  has  struck  a  harpoon.  He 
looks  at  his  quarry  only  as  a  "  ten  barrel "  or  a  "  fifteen 
barrel "  whale,  as  the  case  may  be.  He  does  not  content 
himself  with  the  illuminating  potentialities  of  the  creature  he 
pursues.  He  is  only  anxious  as  to  how  it  will  barrel  off,  and 
the  barrels  might  be  pork,  or  potatoes,  or  anything  else. 
So  with  the  man  who  goes  out  mine-hunting.  He  harpoons 
a  lode,  lays  open  so  many  "  millions  "  of  ore,  sells  it  to  a 
company  for  a  "  million  "  or  two,  and  straightway  goes  and 
"busts  "  for  so  many  "millions"  It  does  not  seem  to  con- 


Philosophy  of  thick  Boots.  43 

cern  such  a  one  that  a  "  million  "  of  dollars  is  so  many 
guineas,  or  roubles,  or  napoleons,  or  mohurs,  and  so  forth, 
and  that  if  he  goes  on  to  the  end  of  his  life,  he  can  never 
achieve  more  than  money.  His  arithmetic  goes  mad,  and 
he  begins  computing  from  the  wrong  end  of  the  line.  Ten 
thousands  of  dollars  make  one  5o-cent  piece,  two  5o-cent 
pieces  make  one  quarter,  five  quarters  make  one  nickel,  five 
nickels  make  one  cent,  and  "  quite  a  lot "  of  cents  make 
one  fortune.  So  at  it  he  goes  again,  trying  to  foot  up  a 
satisfactory  balance  with  thousands  for  units— and  "  busts  " 
before  he  gets  to  the  end  of  the  sum. 

Leadville  itself  as  I  first  saw  it,  ringed  in  with  snow- 
covered  hills,  a  bright  sun  shining  and  a  slight  snow  falling, 
remains  in  my  memory  as  one  of  the  prettiest  scenes  in  my 
experience.  In  Switzerland  even  it  could  hold  its  own,  and 
triumph.  I  wandered  about  its  streets  and  into  its  shops 
and  saloons,  curious  to  see  some  of  those  men  of  whom  I 
had  heard  so  much  ;  but  whatever  may  have  been  their 
exercises  with  bowie-knife  and  pistol  at  a  later  hour  of 
the  day,  I  was  never  more  agreeably  disappointed  than  by 
the  manners  and  bearing  of  the  Leadville  miners  early  in 
the  morning. 

There  is  nothing  gives  a  man  so  much  self-reliance  as 
having  thick  boots  on.  This  fact  I  have  evolved  out  of  my 
own  consciousness,  for  when  I  was  out  in  the  Colonies  I  often 
tried  to  analyze  a  certain  sense  of  "  independence  "  which  I 
found  taking  possession  of  me.  The  climate  no  doubt  was 
exceptionally  invigorating,  and  I  was  a  great  deal  on  horse- 
back. But  I  had  been  subjected  to  the  same  conditions  else- 
where without  experiencing  the  same  results.  And  after  a 
great  deal  of  severe  mental  inquiry,  I  decided  that  it  was — 
my  thick  boots!  And  I  was  right.  No  man  can  feel  properly 
capable  of  taking  care  of  himself  in  slippers.  In  patent- 


44  Sinners  and  Saints. 

leather  boots  he  is  little  better,  and  in  what  are  called 
11  summer  walking-shoes  "  he  still  finds  himself  fastidious 
about  puddles,  and  at  a  disadvantage  with  every  man  he 
meets  who  does  not  mind  a  rough  road.  But  once  you  be- 
gin to  thicken  the  sole,  self-reliance  commences  to  increase, 
and  by  the  time  your  boots  are  as  solid  as  those  of  a  Colorado 
miner  you  should  find  yourself  his  equal  in  "  independence." 
And  some  of  their  boots  are  prodigious.  The  soles  are 
over  an  inch  thick,  project  in  front  of  the  toes  perhaps  half 
an  inch,  and  form  a  ledge,  as  it  were,  all  round  the  foot. 
What  a  luxury  with  such  boots  it  must  be  to  kick  a  man  ! 

The  rest  of  the  costume  was  often  in  keeping  with 
the  shoe  leather,  and  in  every  case  where  the  wearers  did 
not  belong  to  the  shops  and  offices  of  the  town,  there  was 
a  general  attention  to  strength  of  material  and  personal 
comfort,  at  a  sacrifice  of  appearance,  which  was  refreshing 
and  unconventional.  They  are  a  fine  set,  indeed,  this 
miscellaneous  congregation  of  nationalities  which  men  call 
"  Colorado  diggers."  There  is  hardly  a  stupid  face  among 
them,  and  certainly  not  a  cowardly  one.  And  then  com- 
pare them  with  the  population  of  their  native  places — the 
savages  of  the  East  of  London,  the  outer  barbarians  of 
Scandinavia,  the  degraded  peasantry  of  Western  Ireland ! 
The  contrast  is  astonishing.  Left  in  Europe  they  might 
have  guttered  along  in  helpless  poverty  relieved  only  by 
intervals  of  crime,  till  old  age  found  them  in  a  workhouse. 
But  here  they  can  insist  on  every  one  pretending  to  think 
them  "as  good  as  himself"  (such  is,  I  believe,  the  formula 
of  this  preposterous  hypocrisy),  and,  at  any  rate,  may  hope 
for  sudden  wealth.  Above  all,  a  man  here  does  not  go 
about  barefooted,  like  so  many  of  his  family  "at  home,"  or 
in  ragged  shoe-leather,  like  so  many  more  of  them  ;  but 
stands,  and  it  may  even  be  sleeps,  in  boots  of  unimpeach- 


In  Leadville.  45 


able  solidity.  So  he  goes  down  the  street  as  if  it  were  his 
own,  planting  his  feet  firmly  at  every  step,  and,  not  having 
to  trouble  himself  about  the  condition  of  the  footway,  keeps 
his  head  erect.  Depend  upon  it,  thick  boots  are  one  of  the 
secrets  of  "  independence  "  of  character. 

But  Leadville,  this  wonderful  town  that  in  four  years  sprang 
up  from  300  to  30,000  inhabitants,  is  not  entirely  a  city  of 
miners.  On  the  day  that  I  was  there  larger  numbers  than 
usual  were  in  the  streets,  in  consequence  of  an  election  then 
in  progress  holding  out  promises  of  unusual  entertainment 
Besides  these  there  is,  of  course,  the  permanent  population 
of  commerce  and  ordinary  business ;  and  I  was  struck  here, 
as  I  had  not  been  before  since  I  left  Boston,  with  the  natural 
phenomenon  of  a  race  reverting  to  an  old  type.  Boston 
reminded  me  at  times  of  some  old  English  cathedral  city. 
Leadville  was  like  some  thriving  provincial  town.  The  men 
would  not  have  looked  out  of  place  in  the  street,  say,  of 
Reading,  while  the  women,  in  their  quiet  and  somewhat 
old-fashioned  style  of  dressing,  reminded  me  very  curiously 
of  rural  England.  Indeed,  I  do  not  think  my  anticipations 
have  ever  been  so  completely  upset  as  in  Leadville.  All  the 
way  from  New  York  I  have  been  told  to  wait  "  till  I  got  to 
Colorado "  before  I  ventured  to  speak  of  rough  life,  and 
Leadville  itself  was  sometimes  particularized  to  me  as  the 
Ultima  Thule  of  civilization,  the  vanishing-point  of  refine- 
ment. 

But  not  only  is  Leadville  not  "rough;"  it  is  even  flirting 
with  the  refinements  of  life.  It  has  an  opera-house,  a 
good  drive  for  evening  recreation,  and  a  florist's  shop. 
There  were  not  many  plants  in  it,  it  is  true,  but  they  were 
nearly  all  of  them  of  the  pleasant  old  English  kinds — 
geraniums,  pansies,  pinks,  and  mignonette.  Two  other 
shops  interested  me,  one  stocked  with  mineral  specimens — 


46  Sinners  and  Saints. 

malachite,  agate,  amethyst,  quartz,  blood-stone,  onyx,  and 
an  infinite  variety  of  pieces  of  ore,  gold,  silver,  lead,  iron, 
copper,  bismuth,  and  sulphur — with  which  pretty  settings 
are  made,  of  a  quaint  grotto-work  kind,  for  clocks  and  ink- 
stands. The  other  a  naturalist's  shop,  in  which,  besides 
fossils,  exquisite  leaves  in  stone  and  petrified  tree-fragments, 
I  found  the  commencement  of  a  zoological  collection — the 
lynx  with  its  comfortable  snow-coat  on,  and  the  grey  moun- 
tain wolf  not  less  cozily  dressed ;  squirrels,  black  and  grey, 
"  the  creatures  that  sit  in  the  shade  of  their  tails,"  and  the 
"  friends  of  Hiawatha,"  with  various  birds — the  sage  hen  and 
the  prairie  chicken,  the  magpie  (very  like  the  English  bird), 
and  the  "  lark," — a  very  inadequate  substitute  indeed  for  the 
bird  that  "  at  Heaven's  gate  sings,"  that  has  been  sanctified 
to  all  time  by  Shelley,  and  the  idol  of  the  poets  of  the  Old 
World — and  heads  of  large  game,  horned  and  antlered,  and 
the  skin  of  a  "lion."  It  is  a  curious  fact  that  every  country 
should  thus  insist  on  having  a  lion.  For  the  real  African 
animal  himself  I  entertain  only  a  very  qualified  respect.  For 
some  of  his  substitutes,  the  panther  of  Sumatra  and  the  Far 
East,  the  (now  extinct)  cat  of  Australia,  and  the  puma  of  the 
United  States,  that  respect  is  even  more  moderate  in  degree. 
"  The  American  lion  "  is,  in  fact,  about  as  much  like  the 
original  article  as  the  American  "  muffin "  is  like  the 
seductive  but  saddening  thing  from  which  it  takes  its  name. 
The  puma,  which  is  its  proper  name,  is  the  least  imposing 
of  all  the  larger  cats.  It  cannot  compare  even  with  the 
jaguar,  and  would  not  be  recognized  by  the  true  lion,  or  by 
the  tiger,  as  being  a  kinsman.  It  is  just  as, true  of  lions  as 
it  is  of  Glenfield  starch—"  when  you  ask  for  it,  see  that  you 
get  it"  I  admit  that  it  is  very  creditable  to  America  that 
in  the  great  competition  of  nations  she  should  insist  on  not 
being  left  behind  even  in  the  matter  of  lions,  but  surely  it 


Negroes  not  necessarily  Gentlemen.         47 

would  be  more  becoming  to  her  vast  resources  and  her 
undeniable  enterprise  if  she  imported  some  of  the  genuine 
breed,  instead  of,  as  at  present,  putting  up  with  such  a 
shabby  compromise  as  the  puma. 

This  tendency  to  exaggeration  in  terms  has  I  know  been 
very  frequently  commented  upon.  But  I  don't  remember 
having,  heard  it  suggested  that  this  grandiosity  must  in  the 
long-run  have  a  detrimental  effect  upon  national  advance- 
ment. Presuming  for  instance  that  an  American  under- 
stands the  real  meaning  of  the  word  "  city,"  what  gross  and 
ridiculous  notions  of  self-importance  second-class  villages 
must  acquire  by  hearing  themselves  spoken  of  as  "  cities." 
Or  supposing  that  one  understands  the  real  meaning  of  the 
word  "  lady/'  how  comes  it  that  an  ill-bred,  ill-mannered 
chambermaid  is  always  spoken  of  as  a  "  lady  "  ?  If  the  name 
is  only  given  in  courtesy,  why  not  call  them  "  princesses  "  at 
once  and  rescue  the  nobler  word  from  its  present  miserable 
degradation  ? 

I  was  in  the  Chicago  Hotel  and  a  coloured  porter  was 
unstrapping  my  luggage.  I  rang  the  bell  for  a  message  boy, 
and  on  another  black  servant  appearing  I  gave  him  a  written 
note  to  take  down  to  the  manager.  But  in  that  insolent 
manner  so  very  prevalent  among  the  blacker  hotel  servants 
in  America,  he  said  :  "  That  other  gentleman  will  take  it 
down"  "  Other  gentleman  !  "  I  gasped  out  in  astonish- 
ment ;  "there  is  only  one  gentleman  in  this  room,  and  two 
negro  servants.  And  if,"  I  continued,  forgetting  that  I  was 
in  America,  and  rising  from  my  chair,  "  you  are  not  off  as 
fast  as  you  can  go,  I'll —  "  But  the  "  gentleman  "  fled  so 
precipitately  with  my  message  that  I  got  no  further. 

Now  could  anything  be  more  preposterous  than  this  poor 
creature's  attempt  to  vindicate  his  right  to  the  flattering  title 
conferred  upon  him  by  the  Boots,  and  which  he  in  turn  con- 


48       '  Sinners  and  Saints. 

ferred  upon  the  Barman,  until  everybody  in  the  hotel,  from 
the  Manager  downwards,  was  involved  in  an  absurd  en- 
tanglement of  mutual  compliments?  It  may  of  course  be 
laughed  at  as  a  popular  humour.  But  a  stranger  like  myself 
is  perpetually  recognizing  the  mischief  which  this  absurd 
want  of  moral  courage  and  self-respect  in  the  upper  classes 
is  working  in  the  country.  Nor  have  Americans  any  grounds 
whatever  to  suppose  that  this  sense  of  "courtesy  "  is  pecu- 
liar to  them.  It  is  common  to  every  race  in  the  world,  and 
most  conspicuous  in  the  lowest.  The  Kaffirs  of  Africa  and  the 
Red  Indians  address  each  other  with  titles  almost  as  fulsome 
as  "gentleman,"  while  in  India,  the  home  of  courtesy  and 
good  breeding,  the  natives  of  the  higher  castes  address  the 
very  lowest  by  the  title  of  Maharaj{" great  prince").  It 
is  accepted  by  the  recipient  exactly  in  the  spirit  in  which  it 
is  meant.  He  understands  that  the  higher  classes  do  not' 
wish  to  offend  him  by  calling  him  by  his  real  name,  and  his 
Oriental  good  taste  tells  him  that  any  intermediate  appella- 
tion might  be  misconstrued.  So  he  calls  himself,  as  he  is 
called,  by  the  highest  title  in  the  land.  There  is  no  danger 
here  of  any  mistake.  Every  one  knows  that  the  misfortune 
of  birth  or  other  "  circumstances  beyond  his  control "  have 
made  him  a  menial.  But  no  one  tells  him  so.  He  is 
"AfahAraj" 

For  myself,  I  adopted  the  plan  of  addressing  every  negro 
servant  as  a  "  Sultan."  It  was  not  abusive  and  sounded  well. 
He  did  not  know  what  it  meant  any  more  than  he  knows 
the  meaning  of  "gentleman,"  but  I  saved  my  self-respect 
by  not  pretending  to  put  him  on  an  equality  with  myself. 

At  Leadville  the  hotel  servants  are  white  men,  and  the 
result  is  civility.  But  I  was  in  the  humour  at  Leadville  to 
be  pleased  with  everything.  The  day  was  divine,  the  land- 
scape enchanting,  and  the  men  with  their  rough  riding- 


Under  the  Pine- trees.  49 

costumes,  strange,  home-made-looking  horses,  Mexican 
saddles  (which  I  now  for  the  first  time  saw  in  general  use) 
and  preposterous  "  stirrups,"  interested  me  immensely.  Of 
course  I  went  up  to  a  mine,  and,  of  course,  went  down  it. 
And  what  struck  me  most  during  the  expedition  ?  Well, 
the  sound  of  the  wind  in  the  pine-trees. 

It  was  a  delightful  walk — away  up  out  of  the  town,  with 
its  suburbs  of  mimic  pinewood  "  chalets  "  and  rough  log- 
huts,  and  the  hills  all  round  sloping  back  from  the  plateau 
so  finely,  patched  and  powdered  with  snow-drifts,  fringed 
and  crowned  with  pine-trees,  here  darkened  with  a  forest  of 
them,  there  dotted  with  single  trees,  and  over  all,  the  Swiss 
magic  of  sunlight  and  shadow;  away  up  the  hill-side, 
through  a  wilderness  of  broken  bottles  and  battered  meat 
cans,  a  very  paradise  of  rag-pickers,  among  which  are 
scattered  the  tiny  homes  of  the  miners.  Women  were  busy 
chopping  wood  and  bringing  in  water.  Children  were 
romping  in  parties.  But  the  men,  their  husbands  and 
fathers,  were  all  "  up  at  the  mines  "  at  work,  invisible,  in 
the  bowels  of  the  mountain  ;  keeping  the  kobolds  company, 
and  throwing  up  as  they  went  great  hillocks  of  rubbish  behind 
them  like  some  gigantic  species  of  mole,  or  burrowing 
armadillo  of  the  old  glyptodon  type.  And  so  on,  up  the 
shingle-strewn  hillside  thickly  studded  with  charred  tree- 
stumps,  desolation  itself— a  veritable  graveyard  of  dead  pine- 
trees.  Above  us,  on  the  crest  of  the  mountain,  the  forest 
was  still  standing,  and  long  before  we  reached  them  we 
heard  the  wind-haunted  trees  of  Pan  telling  their  griefs 
to  the  hills.  It  is  a  wonderful  music,  this  of  the  pine-trees, 
for  it  has  fascinated  every  people  among  whom  they  grow, 
from  the  bear-goblin  haunts  of  Asiatic  Kurdistan  through 
the  elf-plagued  forests  of  Germany  to  the  spirit-land  of  the 
Canadian  Indians.  It  is  indeed  a  mystery,  this  voice  in 

£ 


50  Sinners  and  Saints. 

the  tree-tops,  with  all  the  tones  of  an  organ — the  vox-humana 
stop  wonderful — and  in  addition  all  the  sounds  of  nature, 
from  the  sonorous  diapason  of  the  ocean  to  the  whisperings 
of  the  reed  beds  by  the  river.  When  I  came  upon  them  in 
Leadville  the  pines  were  rehearsing,  I  think,  for  a  storm  that 
was  coming.  Lower  down  the  slope,  the  trees  were  stand- 
ing as  quiet  as  possible,  and  in  the  town  itself  at  the  bottom 
of  the  hill  the  smoke  was  rising  straight.  But  up  here,  at  the 
top,  under  the  pine-trees,  the  first  act  of  a  tempest  was  in 
full  rehearsal.  And  all  this  time  wandering  about,  I  had 
not  seen  one  single  living  soul.  There  stood  the  sheds 
built  over  the  mines.  But  no  one  was  about.  At  the  door 
of  one  of  them  was  a  cart  with  its  horses.  But  no  driver. 
This  extraordinary  absence  of  life  gave  the  hill-top  a  strange 
solemnity — and  though  I  knew  that  under  my  feet  the  earth 
was  alive  with  human  beings,  and  though  every  now  and 
then  a  little  pipe  sticking  out  of  a  shed  would  suddenly 
snort  and  give  about  fifty  little  angry  puffs  at  the  rate  of  a 
thousand  a  minute,  the  utter  solitude  was  so  fascinating  that 
I  understood  at  once  why  pine-covered  mountains,  especially 
where  mines  are  worked,  should  all  the  world  over  be  such 
favourite  sites  in  legend  and  ballad  for  the  homes  of  elfin 
and  goblin  folk. 

The  afternoon  was  passing  before  I  set  out  homeward  and 
I  could  hardly  get  along,  so  often  did  I  turn  round  to  look 
back  at  the  views  behind  me.  And  in  front,  and  on  eithei 
side,  were  the  hills,  with  their  hidden  hoards  of  silver  and 
lead,  watching  the  town,  whence  they  know  the  miners  will 
some  day  issue  to  attack  them,  and  on  their  slopes  lay 
mustered  the  shattered  battalions  of  their  pines,  here  look- 
ing as  if  invading  the  town,  into  which  their  skirmishers, 
dotted  about  among  the  houses,  had  already  fought  their 
way ;  there,  as  if  they  were  retreating  up  the  hillside  with 


Back  into  the  Town.  5 1 

their  ranks  closed  against  the  houses  that  pursued  them,  or 
straggling  away  up  the  slopes  and  over  the  crest  in  all  the 
disorder  of  defeat. 

And  so,  down  on  to  the  level  of  the  plateau  again,  with  its 
traffic  and  animation  and  all  the  busy  life  of  a  hardworking 
town. 


B  2 


5  2  Sinners  and  Saints. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

FROM   LEADVILLE   TO   SALT   LAKE   CITY. 

What  is  the  conductor  of  a  Pullman  Car  ?  — Cannibalism  fatal  to  lasting 
friendships — Starving  Peter  to  feed  Paul — Connexion  between 
Irish  cookery  and  Paruellism — Americans  not  smokers — In  Denver 
—  "The  Queen  City  of  the  Plains" — Over  the  Rockies- Pride  in 
a  cow,  and  what  came  of  it — Sage-brush — Would  ostriches  pay  n 
the  West  ? — Echo  Canon — The  Mormons'  fortifications — Great 
Salt  Lake  in  sight. 

WHAT  is  the  "conductor'*  of  a  Pullman  car?  Is  he  a 
private  gentleman  travelling  for  his  pleasure,  a  duke  in 
disguise,  or  is  he  a  servant  of  the  company  placed  on  the 
cars  to  see  to  the  comfort,  &c.,  of  the  company's  customers  ? 
I  should  like  to  know,  for  sometimes  I  have  been  puzzled 
to  find  out.  The  porter  is  an  admirable  institution,  when 
he  is  amenable  to  reason,  and  I  have  been  fortunate  enough 
to  find  myself  often  entrusted  to  perfectly  rational  specimens. 
The  experiences  of  travellers  have,  as  I  know  from  their 
books,  been  sometimes  very  different  from  mine — ladies, 
especially,  complaining — but  for  myself  I  consider  the  Union 
Pacific  admirably  manned. 

But  it  is  a  great  misfortune  that  the  company  do  not  run 
hotel  cars.  I  was  told  that  the  reason  why  we  were  made 
over  helplessly  to  such  caterers  as  those  at  North  Platte  and 
Sterling  for  our  food  was,  that  the  custom  of  passengers  is 
almost  the  only  source  of  revenue  the  "eating-houses" 
along  the  line  can  depend  upon.  Without  the  custom  of 


Cannibalism  not  Sociable.  53 

passengers  they  would  expire —  atrophise — become  deceased. 
What  I  want  to  know  is  why  they  should  not  expire.  I,  as  a 
traveller,  see  no  reason  whatever,  no  necessity,  for  their 
being  kept  alive  at  a  cost  of  so  much  suffering  to  the 
company's  customers.  Let  them  decease,  or  else  establish 
a  claim  to  public  support.  During  a  long  railway  journey 
the  system  is  temporarily  deranged  and  appetites  are 
irregular,  so  that  some  people  can  not  eat  when  they  have 
the  opportunity,  and  when  they  could  eat,  do  not  get  it. 
Some  day,  no  doubt,  a  horrible  cannibalic  outrage  on  the 
cars  will  awaken  the  directors  to  the  peril  of  carrying  starving 
passengers,  and  the  luxury  of  the  hotel-car  will  be  instituted. 

Not  that  I  could  censure  the  poor  men  of  the  South 
Seas  or  Central  Africa  for  eating  each  other.  There  seems 
to  me  something  a  trifle  admirable  in  this  economy  of  their 
food.  But  cannibalism  must,  in  the  very  nature  of  it,  be  deter- 
rent to  the  formation  of  lasting  friendships  between  strangers. 
So  long  as  two  men  look  upon  each  other  as  possible  side 
dishes,  there  can  be  no  permanent  cordiality  between  them. 
Mutual  confidence,  the  great  charm  of  sincere  friendship, 
must  be  wanting.  You  could  never  be  altogether  at  your 
ease  in  a  company  which  discussed  the  best  stuffing  for  you. 

Meanwhile,  the  custom  of  carrying  their  own  provi- 
sions is  increasing  in  favour  among  passengers,  so  that, 
hotel  cars  or  not,  these  Barmecide  "eating-houses"  may 
yet  expire  from  inanition.  The  waiting  (done  by  girls)  is,  I 
ought  to  say,  admirable — but  then  so  it  was  at  Sancho 
Panza's  supper  and  at  Duke  Humphrey's  dinner-table. 
And  yet  the  hungry  went  empty  away. 

Between  Cheyenne  and  Ogden  the  commissariat  is  dis- 
tinctly better,  and  the  unprovided  traveller  triumphs 
mildly  over  the  more  careful  who  have  carried  their  own 
provisions.  But,  striking  a  balance  on  the  whole  journey, 
there  is  no  doubt  that  the  comfort  of  the  trip,  some  sixty 


54  Sinners  and  Saints. 

odd  hours,  from  Omaha  to  Ogden,  is  materially  increased 
by  starting  with  a  private  stock  of  food.  Bitter  herbs  with- 
out indigestion  is  better  than  a  stalled  ox  with  dyspepsia. 

An  old  Roman  epicure  gravely*  expressed  his  opinion  that 
Africa  could  never  be  a  progressive  country,  inasmuch  as  its 
shrimps  were  so  small.  And  I  think  I  may  venture  to  say 
that  if  the  cookery  in  the  central  States  does  not  improve, 
the  country  must  gradually  drift  backwards  into  barbarism. 
For  there  is  a  most  intimate  connexion  between  cookery 
and  civilization. 

It  is  the  duty  of  the  historian,  and  not  the  task  of  the 
traveller,  to  trace  national  catastrophes  to  their  real  causes 
— often  to  be  found  concealed  under  much  adventitious 
matter,  and  when  found  often  surprising  from  their  insignifi- 
cance— and  I  leave  it,  therefore,  to  others  to  specify  the 
particular  feature  of  Irish  cookery  that  tends  to  create  a  dis- 
inclination to  paying  rent. 

That  the  agitated  demeanour  of  the  after-dinner  speakers 
during  Irish  tenant-right  meetings  was  due  solely  to  the 
infuriating  and  ferocious  course  of  food  to  which  they  had 
just  submitted,  is  as  certain  as  that  the  extraordinary  class 
of  noises,  cavernous  and  hollow-sounding,  produced  by  their 
applausive  audiences  was  owing  to  the  fact  that  they  had  not 
dined  at  all.  In  the  West  of  Ireland  (where  I  travelled 
with  those  "  experts  in  constitutional  treason "  who  were 
then  organizing  the  "No  Rent"  agitation),  the  agitators  and 
conspirators  had  no  time  for  long  dinners,  as  the  mobs  out- 
side were  as  impatient  as  hunger,  so  they  sat  down,  invari- 
ably, to  everything  at  once — mutton,  bacon,  sausages, 
turkey  and  ham,  with  relays  of  hot  potatoes  every  two 
minutes.  While  one  conspirator  was  addressing  the  pea- 
santry, the  upper  half  of  his  body  thrust  out  of  the  lower 
half  of  the  window,  and  only  his  legs  in  the  dining-room,  the 


Potatoes  and  Parnellism .  5  5 

rest  were  eating  against  time,  and  as  soon  as  the  speaker's 
legs  were  seen  to  get  up  on  tiptoe,  which  they  always  did 
for  the  peroration,  the  next  to  speak  had  to  rise  from  his  food. 
The  result  was  of  course  incoherent  violence.  But  a  closer 
analysis  is  required  to  detect  the  causes  of  Irish  dislike  to 
rent. 

That  it  would  be  eventually  found  that  potatoes  and 
patriotism  have  an  occult  affinity  I  have  no  doubt ;  but,  as 
I  have  said  above,  such  research  more  properly  belongs  to 
the  province  of  the  historian.  The  Spartan  stirring  his 
black  broth  with  a  spear  revealed  his  nature  at  once,  and 
the  single  act  of  the  Scythians,  using  their  beefsteaks  for 
saddles  until  they  wanted  to  eat  them,  gives  at  a  glance 
their  character  to  the  nation. 

At  any  rate,  it  is  as  old  as  Athenseus  that  "  to  cookery  we 
owe  well-ordered  States ;"  for  States  result  from  the  con- 
gregation of  individuals  in  towns,  and  towns  are  the  sum  of 
agglomerated  households,  and  households,  it  is  notorious, 
never  combine  except  for  the  sociable  consumption  of  food. 
So  long  as,  in  the  Dark  Ages,  every  man  cooked  for  him  self, 
or,  in  the  primitive  days  of  cannibalism,  helped  himself  to 
a  piece  of  a  raw  neighbour,  there  could  be  no  friendly  hearti- 
ness at  meals ;  but,  as  soon  as  cooks  appeared,  men  met 
fearlessly  round  a  common  board,  towns  grew  up  round  the 
dinner-table,  and,  as  Athenaeus  remarks,  well-ordered  States 
grew  up  round  the  towns.  But  if  we  were  to  judge  of  the 
prospects  of  the  people  who  live,  say,  about  Green  River  or 
North  Platte,  by  the  character  of  the  food  (as  supplied  to 
travellers)  the  opinion  could  not  be  very  complimentary  or 
encouraging. 

It  is  a  prevalent  idea  in  England  that  Americans  smoke 
prodigiously,  even  as  compared  with  "  the  average  Britisher." 
Now,  in  America  there  is  very  little  smoking.  You  may 


56  Sinners  and  Saints. 

perhaps  think  I  am  wrong.  A  great  many  Americans,  I 
allow,  buy  cigars  in  the  most  reckless  fashion.  But  (apart 
from  the  fact  that  cigars  are  not  necessarily  tobacco)  I  find 
that  as  a  rule  they  throw  away  more  than  they  smoke. 
Speaking  roughly,  then,  I  should  say  so-called  "  smokers  " 
in  this  country  might  be  divided  into  three  classes  :  those 
who  buy  cigars  because  they  cost  money ;  those  who  buy 
them  because  cigars  give  them  a  decent  excuse  for  spitting ; 
and  those  who  buy  them  under  the  delusion  that  the  friend 
who  is  with  them  smokes,  and  that  hospitality  or  courtesy 
requires  that  they  should  humour  his  infatuation.  Of  the 
trifling  residue,  the  men  who  smoke  because,  as  they  put  it, 
"  they  like  it,"  it  is  not  worth  while  to  speak.  Now,  one  of 
the  results  of  this  general  aversion  to  tobacco  is  that  when 
a  foreigner  addicted  to  the  weed  comes  over  and  tries  to 
smoke,  he  is  hunted  about  so,  that  (as  I  have  often  done 
myself)  he  longs  to  be  in  his  coffin,  if  only  to  get  a  quiet 
corner  for  a  pipe.  In  hotels  they  hunt  you  down,  floor  by 
floor,  till  they  get  you  on  to  a  level  with  the  street,  and  then 
from  room  to  room  till  they  get  you  out  on  to  the  pavement. 
There  is  nowhere  where  you  can  read  and  smoke — or  write 
and  smoke— or  have  a  quiet  chat  with  a  friend  over  a  pipe 
— or  in  fact  smoke  at  all,  in  the  respectable,  civilized,  Chris- 
tian sense  of  the  word.  Of  course,  if  you  like,  you  can 
"  smoke  "  in  the  public  hall  of  the  hotel.  But  I  would  just 
as  soon  sit  out  on  the  kerbstone  at  the  corner  of  the  street 
as  among  a  crowd  of  men  holding  cigars  in  their  mouths 
and  shouting  business.  Out  on  the  kerbstone  I  should  at 
any  rate  find  the  saving  grace  of  passing  female  society. 
In  private  houses  again,  smokers  are  consigned  to  the 
knuckle  end  of  the  domicile  and  the  waste  corners  thereof, 
as  if  they  snatched  a  fearful  joy  from  some  secret  fetish  rites, 
or  had  to  go  apart  into  privacy  to  indulge  in  a  little  surrep- 


At  the  Windsor  at  Denver.  57 

titious  cannibalism.  In  the  streets,  friends  do  not  like  you 
to  smoke  when  with  them,  and  there  are  very  few  public 
conveyances  in  which  tobacco  is  comfortably  possible. 

In  trains  there  is  a  most  conspicuous  neglect  of  smokers. 
I  found,  for  instance,  on  my  journey  from  New  York  to 
Chicago,  that  the  only  place  I  could  smoke  in  was  the  end 
compartment  of  the  fourth  car  from  my  own.  That  is  to  say, 
let  it  be  as  stormy  and  dark  as  it  may,  you  have  to  pass 
from  one  car  to  the  other  half  the  length  of  the  train,  and 
when  you  do  get  to  "  the  smoking  compartment  "  you  find 
it  is  only  intended  to  holdyfw  passengers.  I  confess  I  am 
surprised  that  these  palace  cars,  otherwise  so  agreeable, 
should  be  such  hovel  cars  for  smokers.  Nor,  by  the  way, 
seeing  that  the  company  specially  notifies  that  the  passage 
from  one  car  to  the  other  is  "  dangerous  "  while  the  train  is 
in  motion,  do  I  think  it  fair  that  smokers  should  be  encou- 
raged, and  indeed  compelled,  to  run  bodily  risks  in  order  to 
arrive  at  their  tobacco.  Some  day  no  doubt  there  will  be 
Pullman  smoking  cars,  and  when  there  are — I  will  find 
something  else  to  grumble  at. 

Imagine  then  my  astonishment  when  arriving  at  the 
Windsor  Hotel  at  Denver,  I  was  shown  into  a  bona-fide 
smoking-room,  with  cosy  chairs,  well  carpeted,  with  a  writing 
table  properly  furnished,  all  the  newspapers  of  the  day,  and 
a  roaring  fire  in  an  open  fireplace  !  Here  at  last  was  civi- 
lization. Here  was  a  room  where  a  man  might  sit  with  self- 
respect,  and  enjoy  his  pipe  over  a  newspaper,  smoke  while 
he  wrote  a  letter,  foregather  over  tobacco  with  a  friend  in  a 
quiet  corner  !  No  noise  of  loquacious  strangers,  no  mob  of 
outsiders  to  make  the  room  as  common  as  the  street,  no 
fusillade  of  expectoration,  no  stove  to  desiccate  you — above 
all,  no  coloured  "  gentleman  "  to  come  in  and  say,  "  Smoke 
nut  'lard  here,  sar  ! "  I  was  delighted.  But  my  curiosity, 


58  Sinners  and  Saints. 

at  such  an  aberration  into  intelligence,  led  me  to  confide  in 
the  manager. 

"  How  is  it,"  I  asked,  "you  have  got  what  no  other  hotel 
in  America  that  I  have  stayed  in  has  got — a  comfortable 
smoking-room  after  the  English  style  ?  " 

"  Guess"  said  he,  " because  an  English  company  built  this 
hotel!" 

And  I  went  upstairs,  at  peace  with  myself  and  all  English 
companies. 

The  first  view  of  Denver  is  very  prepossessing,  and  further 
acquaintance  begets  better  liking.  Indeed  on  going  into  the 
streets  of  "  the  Queen  City  of  the  Plains  "  I  was  astonished. 
The  buildings  are  of  brick  or  stone,  its  roads  are  good  and 
level,  and  well  planted  with  shade-trees,  its  suburbs  are  orderly 
rows  of  pretty  villas,  adorned  with  lawn,  and  shrubs,  and 
flowers.  Though  one  of  the  very  youngest  towns  of  the 
West,  it  has  already  an  air  of  solidity  and  permanence  which 
is  very  striking,  while  on  such  a  day  as  I  saw  it,  it  is  also 
one  of  the  very  cleanest  and  airiest.  And  the  snow-capped 
hills  are  in  sight  all  round. 

Particularly  notable  in  Denver  are  its  railway  station — 
and  yet,  with  all  its  size,  it  is  found  too  small  for  the  rapidly 
increasing  requirements  of  the  district — and  the  Tabor 
Opera-House.  This  is  really  a  beautiful  building  inside, 
with  its  lavish  upholstery,  its  charming  "ladies'  rooms,' 
and  smoking-rooms,  its  variety  of  handsome  stone,  its  carved 
cherry-wood  fittings,  its  perfectly  sumptuous  boxes.  The 
stage  is  nearly  as  large  as  that  at  Her  Majesty's,  quite  as 
large  as  any  in  New  York,  while  in  general  appointments 
and  in  novelty  of  ornaments,  it  has  very  few  rivals  in  all 
Europe.  In  one  point,  the  beauty  of  the  mise-en-scene  from 
the  gallery,  the  Denver  house  certainly  stands  quite  alone, 
for  whereas  in  all  other  theatres  or  opera-houses,  "  the  gods  " 


The  Queen  City  of  the  Plains.  59 

find  themselves  up  in  the  attics,  as  it  were,  with  only  white- 
washed walls  about  them,  and  the  sides  of  the  stage  shut 
out  from  view,  here  they  are  in  handsomely  furnished 
galleries,  with  a  clear  view,  of  the  whole  stage  over 
the  tops  of  the  pagoda-roofed  boxes— these  curious 
"  pepper-box  "  roofs  being  themselves  a  handsome  ornament 
to  the  scene.  By  having  only  a  limited  number  of  "  stalls  " 
on  the  level,  sloping  the  "  pit "  up  to  the  "  grand  tier,"  and 
making  the  stage  nearly  occupy  the  whole  width  of  the 
house,  everybody  in  the  building  gets  an  equally  good  view 
of  the  stage.  It  is  indeed  an  opera-house  to  be  proud  of; 
and  Denver  is  proud  of  it. 

There  is  an  idea  sometimes  mooted  that  Denver  has  been 
run  on  too  fast ;  that  it  has  "  seen  its  day,"  and  may  be  as 
suddenly  deserted  as  it  has  been  peopled.  But  there  is 
absolutely  no  chance  of  this  whatever.  Colorado  is  as  yet 
only  in  its  cradle,  and  the  older  it  gets  the  more  substan- 
tial will  Denver  become,  for  this  city — and  very  soon  it. will 
be  almost  worthy  of  that  name — is  the  Paris  of  "  the  Cen- 
tennial State,"  the  ultimate  ambition  of  the  moderately 
successful  miner.  It  is  not  a  place  to  make  your  money  in 
and  leave.  But  having  made  your  money,  to  go  to  and  live 
in.  For  a  man  or  woman  must  be  very  fastidious  indeed 
who  cannot  be  content  to  settle  down  in  this,  one  of  the 
prettiest  and  healthiest  towns  I  have  ever  visited.  Denver 
accordingly  is  attracting  to  it,  year  by  year,  a  larger  number  of 
that  class  of  citizens  upon  which  alone  the  permanent  prospe- 
rity of  a  town  can  depend,  the  men  of  moderate  capital,  satis- 
fied with  a  fair  return  from  sound  investments,  who  put  their 
money  into  local  concerns,  and  make  the  placetheir  "home." 

I  left  Denver  in  the  early  morning.  Outside  the  station 
were  standing  five  trains  all  waiting  to  be  off,  and  one  by 
one  their  doleful  bells  began  to  toll,  and  one  by  one  they 


60  Sinners  and  Saints. 

sneaked  away.  Ours  was  the  last  to  be  off;  but  at  length 
we  too  got  our  signal :  that  is  to  say,  the  porter  picked  up 
the  stool  which  is  placed  on  the  platform  for  the  convenience 
of  short-legged  passengers  stepping  into  the  cars — and  with- 
out a  word  we  crept  off,  as  if  the  train  was  going  to  a 
funeral,  or  was  ashamed  of  something  it  had  done.  This 
silent,  casual  departure  of  trains  is  a  perpetually  recurring 
surprise  to  me.  Would  it  be  contrary  to  republican  prin- 
ciples to  ring  a  bell  for  the  warning  of  passengers  ?  One 
result,  Jiowever,  of  this  surreptitious  method  of  making  off, 
is  that  no  one  is  ever  left  behind.  Such  is  the  perversity  of 
human  nature  !  In  England  people  are  being  perpetually 
"  left  behind  "  because  they  think  such  a  catastrophe  to  be 
impossible.  In  America  they  are  never  left  behind,  because 
they  are  always  certain  they  will  be. 

At  first  the  country  threatened  a  repetition  of  the  old 
prairie,  made  more  dismal  than  ever  by  our  recent  ex- 
periences of  the  Switzerland  of  Colorado.  But  the  scene 
gradually  picked  up  a  feature  here  and  there  as  we  went 
along,  and  knowing  that  we  were  climbing  up  "  the 
Rockies,"  we  had  always  present  with  us  the  pleasures  of 
hope.  But  if  you  wish  to  see  the  Rocky  Mountains  so  as 
to  respect  them,  do  not  travel  over  them  in  a  train.  They 
are  a  fraud,  so  far  as  they  can  be  seen  from  a  car  window. 
But  in  minor  points  of  interest  they  abound.  Curious 
boulders,  of  immense  size  and  wonderful  shapes,  lie  strewn 
about  the  ground,  all  water-worn  by  the  torrents  of  a  long- 
ago  age,  and  some  of  them  pierced  with  holes — the  work  of 
primeval  shell-fish.  Beds  of  river  gravel  cover  the  s-lopes, 
and  on  every  side  were  abundant  vestiges  of  deluges,  them- 
selves antediluvian.  And  then  we  came  upon  isolated  cliffs 
of  red  sandstone,  with  kranzes  running  along  their  faces — 
exactly  the  same  kranzes  as  the  Zulus  made  such  good  use 


A  Cow's  indiscretion.  61 

of  during  the  war — and  showing  in  their  irregular  bases  how 
old-world  torrents  had  washed  away  the  clay  and  softer 
materials  that  had  once  no  doubt  joined  these  isolated  cliffs 
together  into  a  chain  of  hills,  and  had  left  the  sandstone 
heart  of  each  hill  bare  and  alone.  And  so  on,  up  over  "  the 
Divide  "  into  Wyoming,  still  a  paradise  for  the  rifle  and  the 
rod,  past  Cheyenne,  a  town  of  many  shattered  hopes,  and 
out  into  the  region  of  snow  again. 

Our  engine  was  perpetually  screaming  to  the  cattle  to  get 
off  the  track,  a  series  of  short,  sharp  screams  that  ought  to 
have  sufficed  to  have  warned  even  cattle  to  get  out  of  the 
way.  As  a  rule  they  recognized  the  advisability  of  leaving 
the  rails,  but  one  wretched  cow,  whether  she  was  deaf,  or 
whether  she  was  stupid,  or  whether,  like  Cole's  dog,  she 
was  too  proud  to  move,  I  cannot  say,  but  in  spite  of  the 
screams  of  the  engine  she  held  her  ground  and  got  the 
worst  of  the  collision.  The  cow-catcher  struck  her,  and  as 
we  passed  her,  the  poor  beast  lay  in  the  blood-mottled 
snow-drift  at  the  bottom  of  the  bank,  still  breathing,  but 
almost  dead.  As  for  the  train,  the  cow  might  have  been 
only  a  fly.  * 

And  so  we  went  on  climbing — herds  of  cattle  grazing  or! 
the  slopes,  and  in  the  splendid  "  parks  "  which  lay  stretched 
out  beneath  us  wherever  the  hills  stood  far  apart — with  fre- 
quent snow-sheds  interrupting  all  conversation  or  reading 
with  their  tunnel-like  intervals,  till  we  reached  the  Red 
Granite  Canon,  with  great  masses  of  that  splendid  stone 
fairly  mobbing  the  narrow  course  of  a  mountain  stream,  and 
beyond  them  snow — snow — snow,  stretching  away  to  the 
sky-line  without  a  break.  And  then  Sherman,  the  highest 
point  of  the  mountains  upon  the  whole  line — only  some 
8000  feet  though,  all  told — with  a  half-constructed  monu- 
ment to  Oakes  Ames  crowning  the  summit.  When  finished, 


62  Sinners  and  Saints. 

this  massive  cone  of  solid  granite  blocks  will  be  sixty  feet 
high.  And  then  on  to  the  Laramie  Plains,  with  some 
wonderful  reaches  of  grazing-ground,  and  almost  fabulous 
records  of  ranching  profits,  And  here  is  Laramie  itself, 
that  will  some  day  be  a  city,  for  timber  and  minerals  and 
stock  will  all  combine  to  enrich  it.  But  to-day  it  is  desolate 
enough,  muffled  up  in  winter,  with  snowbirds  in  great  flights 
flecking  the  white  ground.  And  so  out  again  into  the  snow 
wilderness,  here  and  there  cattle  snuffing  about  on  the 
desolate  hill-sides,  and  snow-sheds — timber-covered  ways 
to  prevent  the  snow  drifting  on  to  the  track — becoming 
more  frequent,  and  the  white  desolation  growing  every  mile 
more  utter.  And  the  moon  got  up  to  confuse  the  horizon 
of  land  with  the  background  of  the  sky.  And  so  to  sleep, 
with  dreams  of  the  Arctic  regions,  and  possibilities,  the 
dreariest  in  the  world,  of  being  snowed  up  on  the  line. 

Awakening  with  snow  still  all  round  us,  and  snow  falling 
heavily  as  we  reach  Green  River.  And  then  out  into  a 
country,  prodigiously  rich,  I  was  told,  in  petroleum,  but  in 
which  I  could  only  see  that  sage-brush  was  again  asserting 
its  claims  to  be  seen  above  the  snow-drift,  and  that  wonder- 
ful arrangements  in  red  stone  thrust  themselves  up  from  the 
hill  crests.  Terraces  reminding  me  of  miniature  table- 
mountains  such  as  South  Africa  affects ;  sharply  scarped 
pinnacles  jutting  from  the  ridges  like  the  Mauritius  peaks ; 
plateaux  with  isolated  piles  of  boulders ;  upright  blocks 
shaped  into  the  semblance  of  chimneys ;  crests  broken  into 
battlements,  and — most  striking  mimicry  of  all  snow 
wildernesses — a  reproduction  in  natural  rock  of  the  great 
fortress  of  Deeg,  in  India.  With  snow  instead  of  water,  the 
imitation  of  that  vast  buttressed  pile  was  singularly  exact, 
and  if  there  had  been  only  a  brazen  sun  overhead  and  a 
coppery  sky  flecked  with  circling  kites,  the  counterfeit 


Ostrich -farming.  63 

would  have  been  perfect.  But  Deeg  would  crumble  to 
pieces  with  astonishment  if  snow  were  to  fall  near  it,  while 
here  there  was  enough  to  content  a  polar  bear. 

What  a  pity  sage  brush — the  "  three-toothed  artemisia  " 
of  science — has  no  commercial  value.  Fortunes  would  be 
cheap  if  it  had.  But  I  heard  at  Leadville  that  a  local 
chemist  had  treated  the  plant  after  the  manner  of  cinchona, 
and  extracted  from  its  bark  a  febrifuge  with  which  he  was 
about  to  astonish  the  medical  world  and  bankrupt  quinine. 
That  it  has  a  valuable  principle  in  cases  of  fever,  its  use  by 
the  Indians  goes  a  little  way  to  prove,  while  its  medicinal 
properties  are  very  generally  vouched  for  by  its  being  used 
in  the  West  as  an  application  for  the  cure  of  toothache,  as 
a  poultice  for  swellings,  and  a  lotion  ("'sage  oil")  for 
erysipelas,  rheumatism,  and  other  ailments.  Some  day, 
perhaps,  a  fortune  will  be  made  out  of  it,  but  at  present  its 
chief  value  seems  to  be  as  a  moral  discipline  to  the  settler 
and  as  covert  for  the  sage-hen. 

Would  not  the  ostrich  thrive  upon  some  of  these  pro- 
digious tracts  of  unalterable  land?  Can  all  America  not 
match  the  African  karoo  shrub,  which  the  camel- sparrow 
loves  ?  Ostrich  farming  has  some  special  recommendations, 
especially  for  "  the  sons  of  gentlemen "  and  others  dis- 
inclined for  arduous  labour,  who  have  not  much  of  either 
money  or  brains  to  start  with.  Is  it  not  a  matter  of  common 
notoriety  that  when  pursued  this  fowl  buries  its  head  in  the 
sand,  and  thus,  of  course,  falls  an  easy  prey  to  the  intending 
farmer  ?  If,  on  the  other  hand,  he  does  not  want  the  whole 
of  the  bird,  he  has  only  to  stand  by  and  pluck  its  feathers 
out,  which,  having  its  head  buried,  it  cannot,  of  course 
perceive.  (These  feathers  fetch  a  high  price  in  the  market.) 
Supposing,  however,  that  the  adventurous  emigrant  wtehes 
to  undertake  ostrich  farming  bona  fide,  he  has  merely  to 


64  Sinners  and  Saints. 


pull  the  birds  out  from  the  sand,  and  drive  them  into  an 
enclosure — which  he  will,  of  course,  have  previously  made 
— and  sit  on  the  gate  and  watch  them  lay  their  eggs.  When 
they  lay  eggs,  ostriches — this  is  also  notorious — bury  them 
in  the  sand  and  desert  them,  and  the  gentleman's  son  on 
the  fence  can  then  go  and  pick  them  out  of  the  sand. 
(Ostriches'  eggs  fetch  five  pounds  apiece.)  These  birds, 
moreover,  cost  very  little  for  feeding,  as  they  prefer  pebbles. 
They  can,  therefore,  be  profitably  cultivated  on  the  sea 
beach.  But  I  would  remind  intending  farmers  that  ostriches 
are  very  nimble  on  their  feet.  It  is  also  notorious  that  they 
have  a  shrewd  way  of  kicking.  A  kick  from  an  ostrich  will 
break  a  cab-horse  in  two.  The  intending  farmer,  therefore, 
when  he  has  compelled  the  foolish  bird  to  bury  its  head  in 
the  sand  and  is  plucking  out  its  tail  feathers,  should  stand 
well  clear  of  the  legs.  This  is  a  practical  hint. 

.We  dined  at  Evanston,  neat-handed  abigails,  as  usual, 
handing  round  dishes  fearfully  and  wonderfully  made  out  of 
old  satchels  and  seasoned  with  varnish.  There  is  a  Chinese 
quarter  here,  with  its  curious  congregation  of  celestial  hovels 
all  plastered  over  with,  apparently,  the  labels  of  tea-chests. 
I  should  think  the  Chinese  were  all  self-made  men.  At  any 
rate  they  do  not  seem  to  me  to  have  been  made  by  any  one 
who  knew  how  to  do  it  properly. 

However,  we  had  not  much  time  to  look  at  them,  for 
cows  on  the  track  and  one  thing  and  another  had  made  us 
rather  late ;  so  we  were  very  soon  off  again,  the  travellers, 
after  their  hurried  and  indigestible  meal,  feeling  very  much 
like  the  jumping  frog,  after  he  couldn't  jump,  by  reason 
of  quail  shot. 

The  snow  had  been  gradually  disappearing,  and  as  we 
approached  Echo  Canon  we  found  ourselves  gliding  into 
scenes  that  in  summer  are  very  beautiful  indeed,  with  their 


Echo  Canon.  65 


turf  and  willow -fringed  streams  and  abundant  vegetation. 
And  then,  by  gradual  instalments  of  rock,  each  grander  than 
the  next,  the  great  canon  came  upon  us.  What  a  superb 
defile  this  is  !  It  moves  along  like  some  majestic  poem  in 
a  series  of  incomparable  stanzas.  There  is  nothing  like  it 
in  the  Himalayas  that  I  know  of,  nor  in  the  Suleiman  range. 
In  the  Bolan  Pass,  on  the  Afghan  frontier,  there  are  intervals 
of  equal  sublimity ;  and  even  as  a  whole  it  may  compare 
with  it.  But  taken  all  for  all— its  length  (some  thirty 
miles),  its  astonishing  diversity  of  contour,  its  beauty  as  well 
as  its  grandeur — I  confess  the  Echo  Canon  is  one  of  the 
masterpieces  of  Nature.  I  can  speak  of  course  only  of  what 
I  have  seen.  I  do  not  doubt  that  the  Grand  Canon  in 
Arizona,  which  is  said  to  throw  all  the  wonders  of  Colorado 
and  the  marvels  of  Yellowstone  or  Yosemite  into  the  shade, 
would  dwarf  the  highway  to  Utah,  but  within  my  experience 
the  Echo  is  almost  incomparable.  It  would  be  very  diffi- 
cult to  'convey  any  idea  of  this  glorious  confusion  of  crags. 
But  imagine  some  vast  city  of  Cyclopean  architecture  built 
on  the  crest  and  face  of  gigantic  cliffs  of  ruddy  stone. 
Imagine,  then,  that  ages  of  rain  had  washed  away  all  the 
minor  buildings,  leaving  only  the  battlements  of  the  city,  the 
steeples  of  its  churches,  its  causeways  and  buttresses,  and 
the  stacks  of  its  tallest  chimneys  still  standing  where  they 
had  been  built.  If  you  can  imagine  this,  you  can  imagine 
anything,  even  Echo  Canon — but  I  must  confess  that  my 
attempt  at  description  does  not  recall  the  scene  to  me  in 
the  least. 

However,  I  passed  through  it  and,  up  on  the  crest  of  a 
very  awkward  cliff  for  troops  to  scale  under  fire,  had  pointed 
out  to  me  the  stone-works  which  the  Mormons  built  when 
they  went  out  in  1857  to  stop  the  advance  of  the  Federal 
army. 

F 


66  Sinners  and  Saints. 

And  there  is  no  doubt  of  it  that  the  passage  of  that  defile, 
even  with  such  rough  defences  as  the  Saints  had  thrown  up, 
would  have  cost  the  army  very  dear.  For  these  stone- 
works, like  the  Afghans'  sunghums^  and  intended,  of  course 
for  cover  against  small  arms  only,  were  carried  along  the 
crest  of  the  cliffs  for  some  miles,  and  each  group  was  con- 
nected with  the  next  by  a  covered  way,  while  in  the  bed  of 
the  stream  below,  ditches  had  been  dug  (some  six  feet  deep 
and  twenty  wide),  right  across  from  cliff  to  cliff,  and  a  dam 
constructed  just  beyond  the  first  ditch  which  in  an  hour  or 
two  would  have  converted  the  whole  canon  for  a  mile  or  so 
into  a  level  sheet  of  water.  On  this  dam  the  Mormon  guns 
were  masked,  and  though,  of  course,  the  Federal  artillery 
would  soon  have  knocked  them  off  into  the  water,  a  few 
rounds  at  such  a  range  and  raking  the  army — clubbed  as  it 
would  probably  have  been  at  the  ditches — must  have  proved 
terribly  effective.  This  position,  moreover,  though  it  could 
be  easily  turned  by  a  force  diverging  -to  the  right  before 
it  entered  the  canon,  could  hardly  be  turned  by  one  that 
had  already  entered  it.  And  to  attempt  to  storm  those 
heights,  with  men  of  the  calibre  of  the  Transvaal  Dutchmen 
holding  them,  would  have  been  splendid  heroism — or  worse. 

And  then  Weber  Canon,  with  its  repetitions  of  castellated 
cliffs,  and  its  mimicry  of  buttress  and  barbican,  bastion 
and  demilune,  tower  and  turret,  and  moat  and  keep,  and 
all  the  other  feudal  appurtenances  of  the  fortalice  that  were 
so  dear  to  the  author  of  "  Kenilworth,"  with  pine-trees  climb- 
ing up  the  slopes  all  aslant,  and  undergrowth  that  in  summer 
is  full  of  charms.  The  stream  has  become  a  river,  and  fine 
meadows  and  corn-land  lie  all  along  its  bank ;  large  herds 
of  cattle  and  companies  of  horses  graze  on  the  hill  slopes, 
and  wild  life  is  abundant.  Birds  are  flying  about  the  val- 
ley under  the  supervision  of  buzzards  that  float  in  the  air,  half- 


First  Glimpse  of  the  Salt  Lake.          67 

mountain  high,  and  among  the  willowed  nooks  parties  of 
moor-hens  enjoy  life.  And  so  into  Ogden. 

Night  was  closing  in  fast,  and  soon  the  country  was  in 
darkness.  Between  Ogden  and  the  City  of  the  Saints  lay  a 
two  hours'  gap  of  dulness,  and  then  on  a  sudden  I  saw 
out  in  front  of  me  a  thin  white  line  lying  under  the  hills  that 
shut  in  the  valley. 

" That,  sir?    That  is  Salt  Lake." 


68  Sinners  and  Saints. 


CHAPTER  V. 

THE   CITY   OF   THE   HONEY-BEE. 

Zion — Deseret — A  City  of  Two  Peoples — "Work  "  the  watchword  of 
Mormonism — A  few  facts  to  the  credit  of  the  Saints — The  text  of 
the  Edmunds  Bill — In  the  Mormon  Tabernacle— The  closing 
scene  of  the  Conference. 

I  HAVE  described  in  my  time  many  cities,  both  of  the  east 
and  west ;  but  the  City  of  the  Saints  puzzles  me.  It  is  the 
young  rival  of  Mecca,  the  Zion  of  the  Mormons,  the 
Latter-Day  Jerusalem.  It  is  also  the  City  of  the  Honey-bee, 
"  Deseret,"  and  the  City  of  the  Sunflower — an  encampment 
as  of  pastoral  tribes,  the  tented  capital  of  some  Hyksos, 
"  Shepherd  Kings  " — the  rural  seat  of  a  modern  patriarchal 
democracy;  the  place  of  the  tabernacle  of  an  ancient 
prophet-ruled  Theocracy — the  point  round  which  great 
future  perplexities  for  America  are  gathering  fast ;  a  poli- 
tical storm  centre — "  a  land  fresh,  as  it  were,  from  the  hands 
of  God;"  a  beautifnl  Goshen  of  tranquillity  in  the  midst  of 
a  troublous  Egypt — a  city  of  mystery,  that  seems  to  the 
ignorant  some  Alamut  or  "  Vulture's  Nest "  of  an  Assassin 
sect ;  the  eyrie  of  an  "  Old  Man  of  the  Mountains  :"—  to 
the  well-informed  the  Benares  of  a  sternly  pious  people ;  the 
templed  city  of  an  exacting  God — a  place  of  pilgrimage  in 
the  land  of  promise,  the  home  of  the  "  Lion  of  Judah,"  and 
the  rallying-point  in  the  last  days  of  the  Lost  Tribes,  the 
Lamanites,  the  Red  Indians — the  capital  of  a  Territory  in 
which  the  people,  though  "Americans,"  refuse  to  make 


A  City  of  Two  Peoples.  69 

haste  to  get  rich  ;  to  dig  out  the  gold  and  silver  which  they 
know  abounds  in  their  mountains  ;  to  enter  the  world's 
markets  as  competitors  in  the  race  of  commerce — a  people 
content  with  solid  comfort ;  that  will  not  tolerate  either  a 
beggar  or  a  millionaire  within  their  borders,  but  insist  on  a 
uniform  standard  of  substantial  well-being,  and  devote  all 
the  surplus  to  "  building  up  of  Zion,"  to  the  emigration 
of  the  foreign  poor  and  the  erection  of  splendid  places 
of  ceremonial  worship — a  Territory  in  which  the  towns  are 
all  filled  thick  with  tre  es  and  the  air  is  sweet  with  the  fra- 
grance of  fruit  and  flowers,  and  the  voices  of  birds  and 
bees  as  if  the  land  was  still  their  wild  birthright ;  in  which 
meadows  with  herds  of  cattle  and  horses  are  gradually 
overspreading  deserts  hitherto  the  wild  pashalik  of  the 
tyrant  sage-brush — a  land,  alternately,  of  populous  cham- 
paign and  of  desolate  sand  waste,  with,  as  its  capital,  a  City 
of  Two  Peoples  between  whom  there  is  a  bitterness  of 
animosity,  such  as,  in  far-off  Persia,  even  Sunni  and  Shea 
hardly  know. 

Indeed,  there  are  so  many  sides  to  Salt  Lake  City,  and 
so  much  that  might  be  said  of  each,  that  I  should 
perhaps  have  shirked  this  part  of  my  experiences  altogether 
were  I  not  conscious  of  possessing,  at  any  rate,  one  advan- 
tage over  all  my  "  Gentile  "  predecessors  who  have  written 
of  this  Mecca  of  the  West.  For  it  was  my  good  fortune  to 
be  entertained  as  a  guest  in  the  household  of  a  prominent 
Mormon  Apostle,  a  polygamist,  and  in  this  way  to  have  had 
opportunities  for  the  frankest  conversation  with  many  of 
the  leading  Mormons  of  the  territory.  My  candidly  avowed 
antipathy  to  polygamy  made  no  difference  anywhere  I 
went,  for  they  extended  to  me  the  same  confidence  that 
they  would  have  done  to  any  Gentile  who  cared  to  know 
the  real  facts. 


7 o  Sinners  and  Saints. 


In  the  ordinary  way,  I  should  begin  by  describing  the 
City  itself.  But  even  then,  so  subtle  is  the  charm  of  this 
place — Oriental  in  its  general  appearance,  English  in  its 
details — that  I  should  hesitate  to  attempt  description.  Its 
quaint  disregard  of  that  "  fine  appearance  "  which  makes 
your  "live"  towns  so  commonplace;  its  extravagance  in 
streets  condoned  by  ample  shade-trees ;  its  sluices  gurgling 
along  by  the  side-walks ;  its  astonishing  quiet ;  the  simple, 
neighbourly  life  of  the  citizens— all  these,  and  much  more 
combine  to  invest  Salt  Lake  City  with  the  mystery  that 
is  in  itself  a  charm. 

Speaking  merely  as  a  traveller,  and  classifying  the  towns 
which  I  have  seen,  I  would  place  the  Mormon  Zion  in  the 
same  genus  as  Benares  on  the  Ganges  and  Shikarpoor  in 
Sinde,  for  it  attracts  the  visitor  by  interests  that  are  in  great 
part  intellectual.  The  mind  and  eye  are  captivated 
together.  It  is  a  fascination  of  the  imagination  as  well  as 
of  the  senses.  For  the  capital  of  Utah  is  not  one  of  Nature's 
favourites.  She  has  hemmed  it  in  with  majestic  mountains, 
but  they  are  barren  and  severe.  She  has  spread  the  levels 
of  a  great  lake,  but  its  waters  are  bitter,  Marah.  There  is 
none  of  the  tender  grace  of  English  landscape,  none  of  the 
fierce  splendour  of  the  tropics ;  and  yet,  in  spite  of  Nature, 
the  valley  is  already  beautiful,  and  in  the  years  to  come 
may  be  another  Palmyra.  As  yet,  however,  it  is  the  day  of 
small  things.  Many  of  the  houses  are  still  of  adobe,  and 
they  overlook  the  trees  planted  to  shade  them.  Wild  flowers 
still  grow  alongside  the  track  of  the  tram-cars,  and  wild  birds 
perch  to  whistle  on  the  telephone  wires  in  the  business 
thoroughfares. 

But  the  future  is  full  of  promise,  for  the  prosperity  of  the 
city  is  based  upon  the  most  solid  of  all  foundations,  agricul- 
tural wealth,  and  it  is  inhabited  by  a  people  whose  religion  is 


The  Gospel  of  Work. 


work.  For  it  is  a  fact  about  Mormonism  which  I  have  not 
yet  seen  insisted  upon,  that  the  first  duty  it  teaches  is 
work,  and  that  it  inculcates  industry  as  one  of  the  supreme 
virtues. 

The  result  is  that  there  are  no  pauper  Mormons,  for  there 
are  no  idle  ones.  In  the  daytime  there  are  no  loafers  in 
the  streets,  for  every  man  is  afield  or  at  his  work,  and  soon 
after  nine  at  night  the  whole  city  seems  to  be  gone  to  bed. 
A  few  strangers  of  course  are  hanging  about  the  saloon 
doors,  but  the  pervading  stillness  and  the  emptiness  of  the 
streets  is  dispiriting  to  rowdyism,  and  so  the  Gentile  damns 
the  place  as  being  "  dull."  But  the  truth  is  that  the 
Mormons  are  too  busy  during  the  day  for  idleness  to  find 
companionship  at  night,  and  too  sober  in  their  pleasures  for 
gaslight  vices  to  attract  them. 

As  a  natural  corollary  to  this  life  of  hard  work,  it  follows 
that  the  Mormons  are  in  a  large  measure  indifferent  to  the 
affairs  of  the  world  outside  themselves.  Minding  their  own 
business  keeps  them  from  meddling  with  that  of  others. 
They  are,  indeed,  taught  this  from  the  pulpit.  For  it  is 
the  regular  formula  of  the  Tabernacle  that  the  people  should 
go  about  their  daily  work,  attend  to  that,  and  leave  every- 
thing else  alone.  They  are  never  to  forget  that  they  are 
"building  up  Zion,"  that  their  day  is  coming  in  good  time, 
but  that  meanwhile  they  must  work  "and  never  bother 
about  what  other  people  may  be  doing."  In  this  way  Salt 
Lake  City  has  become  a  City  of  Two  Peoples,  and  though 
Mormon  and  Gentile  may  be  stirred  up  together  sometimes, 
they  do  not  mingle  any  more  than  oil  and  water. 

There  are  no  paupers  among  the  Mormons,  and  95  per 
cent,  of  them  live  in  their  own  houses  on  their  own  land  ; 
there  is  no  "  caste  "  of  priesthood,  such  as  the  world 
supposes,  inasmuch  as  every  intelligent  man  is  a  priest,  and 


J2  Sinners  and  Saints. 

liable  at  any  moment  to  be  called  upon  to  undertake  the 
duties  of  the  priests  of  other  churches — but  without  any 
pay. 

Last  winter  there  was  a  census  taken  of  the  Utah  Peni- 
tentiary and  the  Salt  Lake  City  and  county  prisons  with  the 
following  result : — In  Salt  Lake  City  there  are  about  75 
Mormons  to  25  non-Mormons  :  in  Salt  Lake  county  there 
are  about  80  Mormons  to  20  non-Mormons.  Yet  in  the  city 
prison  there  were  29  convicts,  all  non-Mormons;  in  the 
county  prison  there  were  6  convicts  all  non-Mormons. 
The  jailer  stated  that  the  county  convicts  for  the  five  years 
past  were  all  anti-Mormons  except  three  ! 

In  Utah  the  proportion  of  Mormons  to  all  others  is  as  83 
to  17.  In  the  Utah  Penitentiary  at  the  date  of  the  census 
there  were  5 1  prisoners,  only  5  of  whom  were  Mormons, 
and  2  of  the  5  were  in  prison  for  polygamy,  so  that  the  1 7 
per  cent.  "  outsiders  "  had  46  convicts  in  the  penitentiary, 
while  the  83  per  cent.  Mormons  had  but  5  ! 

Out  of  the  200  saloon,  billiard,  bowling  alley  and  pool- 
table  keepers  not  over  a  dozen  even  profess  to  be  Mormons. 
All  of  the  bagnios  and  other  disreputable  concerns  in  the 
territory  are  run  and  sustained  by  non-Mormons.  Ninety- 
eight  per  cent,  of  the  gamblers  in  Utah  are  of  the  same 
element.  Ninety-five  per  cent,  of  the  Utah  lawyers  are 
Gentiles,  and  98  per  cent,  of  all  the  litigation  there  is  of 
outside  growth  and  promotion.  Of  the  250  towns  and 
villages  in  Utah,  over  200  have  no  "  gaudy  sepulchre  of 
departed  virtue,"  and  these  two  hundred  and  odd  towns 
are  almost  exclusively  Mormon  in  population.  Of  the 
suicides  committed  in  Utah  ninety  odd  per  cent,  are  non- 
Mormon,  and  of  the  Utah  homicides  and  infanticides  over 
80  per  cent,  are  perpetrated  by  the  1 7  per  cent,  of  "  out- 
siders." 


Mormon  Morality.  73 

The  arrests  made    in    Salt  Lake  City  from  January  i, 
1 88 1,  to  December  8,  1881,  were  classified  as  follows  : — 

Men 782 

Women    ......     200 

Boys 38 

Total        ....   1020 

Mormons — Men  and  boys         .  163 

Mormons — Women  .         .         .  6 — 169 

Anti-Mormon — Men  and  boys  .  657 

Anti-Mormon — Women    .         .  194 — 851 


Total         .         .         .         .1020 

A  number  of  the  Mormon  arrests  were  for  chicken,  cow, ' 
and  water  trespass,  petty  larceny,  &c.     The  arrests  of  non- 
Mormons  were  80   per   cent,    for   prostitution,  gambling, 
exposing  of    person,  drunkenness,   unlawful   dram-selling, 
assault  and  battery,  attempt  to  kill,  &c. 

Now,  if  the  75  per  cent.  Mormon  population  of  Salt  Lake 
City  were  as  lawless  and  corrupt  as  the  record  shows  the 
25  per  cent.  non-Mormons  to  be,  there  would  have  been 
2443  arrests  made  from  their  ranks  during  the  year  1881, 
instead  of  169  ;  while  if  the  25  percent.  non-Mormon  popu- 
lation were  as  law-abiding  and  moral  as  the  75  per  cent. 
Mormons,  instead  of  851  non-Mormon  arrests  during  the 
year,  there  would  have  been  but  56  ! 

These  are  the  kind  of  statistics  that  non-Mormons  in  Salt 
Lake  City  hate  having  published.  But  the  world  ought  to 
know  them,  if  only  to  put  to  shame  the  so-called  "  Chris- 
tian "  community  of  Utah,  that  is  never  tired  of  libelling, 
personally  and  even  by  name,  the  men  and  women  whom 
Mormons  have  learned  to  respect  from  a  lifetime's  expe- 
rience of  the  integrity  of  their  conduct  and  the  purity  of 


74  Sinners  and  Saints. 

their  lives — the  so-called  "  Christian  "  community  that  is 
afraid  to  hear  itself  contrasted  with  these  same  Mormons, 
lest  the  shocking  balance  of  crime  and  immorality  against 
themselves  should  be  publicly  known.  But  there  is  no 
appeal  from  these  statistics.  They  are  incontrovertible. 

The  time  at  which  I  arrived  in  Utah  was  a  very  critical 
one  for  the  Latter-Day  Saints.  The  States,  exasperated 
into  activity  by  sectarian  agitation — and  by  the  intrigues  of 
a  few  Gentiles  resident  in  Utah  who  were  financially  in- 
terested in  the  transfer  of  the  Territorial  Treasury  from 
Mormon  hands  to  their  own — had  just  determined,  once 
more,  to  extirpate  polygamy,  and  the  final  passage  of  the 
long-dreaded  "  Edmunds  Bill "  had  marked  down  Mor- 
mons as  a  proscribed  people,  and  had  indicted  the  whole 
community  for  a  common  offence. 

The  following  is  the  text  of  this  remarkable  bill : — 
"  Be  it  enacted  by  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives 
of  the  United  States  of  America  in  Congress  assembled,  That 
section  5352  of  the  Revised  Statutes  of  the  United  States 
be,  and  the  same  is  hereby,  amended  so  as  to  read  as  follows, 
namely : 

"  Every  person  who  has  a  husband  or  wife  living  who,  in 
a  territory  or  other  place  over  which  the  United  States  have 
exclusive  jurisdiction,  hereafter  marries  another,  whether 
married  or  single,  and  any  man  who  hereafter  simultaneously, 
or  on  the  same  day,  marries  more  than  one  woman,  in  a 
territory  or  other  place  over  which  the  United  States  have 
exclusive  jurisdiction,  is  guilty  of  polygamy,  and  shall  be 
punished  by  a  fine  of  not  more  than  $500  and  by  imprison- 
ment for  a  term  of  not  more  than  five  years ;  but  this  sec- 
tion shall  not  extend  to  any  person  by  reason  of  any  former 
marriage  whose  husband  or  wife  by  such  marriage  shall 
have  been  absent  for  five  successive  years,  and  is  not  known 


The  Edmunds  Bill.  75 

to  such  person  to  be  living,  and  is  believed  by  such  person 
to  be  dead,  nor  to  any  person  by  reason  of  any  former 
marriage  which  shall  have  been  dissolved  by  a  valid  decree 
of  a  competent  court,  nor  to  any  person  by  reason  of  any 
former  marriage  which  shall  have  been  pronounced  void  by 
a  valid  decree  of  a  competent  court,  on  the  ground  of 
nullity  of  the  marriage  contract. 

"  SEC.  2 — That  the  foregoing  provisions  shall  not  affect 
the  prosecution  or  punishment  of  any  offence  already  com- 
mitted against  the  section  amended  by  the  first  section  of 
this  act. 

"  SEC.  3 — That  if  any  male  person,  in  a  territory  or  other 
place  over  which  the  United  States  have  exclusive  jurisdic- 
tion, hereafter  cohabits  with  more  than  one  woman,  he  shall 
be  deemed  guilty  of  a  misdemeanour,  and  on  conviction 
thereof,  shall  be  punished  by  a  fine  of  not  more  than  $300, 
or  by  imprisonment  for  not  more  than  six  months,  or  by 
both  said  punishments,  in  the  discretion  of  the  court. 

"  SEC.  4 — That  counts  for  any  or  all  of  the  offences  named 
in  sections  one  and  two  of  this  act  may  be  joined  in  the 
same  information  or  indictment. 

"  SEC.  5 — That  in  any  prosecution  for  bigamy,  polygamy, 
or  unlawful  cohabitation,  under  any  statute  of  the  United 
States,  it  shall  be  sufficient  cause  of  challenge  to  any  person 
drawn  or  summoned  as  a  juryman  or  talesman,  first,  that  he 
is  or  has  been  living  in  the  practice  of  bigamy,  polygamy  or 
unlawful  cohabitation  with  more  than  one  woman,  or  that 
he  is  or  has  been  guilty  of  an  offence  punishable  by  either 
of  the  foregoing  sections,  or  by  section  5352  of  the  Revised 
Statutes  of  the  United  States,  or  the  Act  of  July  ist,  1862, 
entitled,  'An  Act  to  punish  and  prevent  the  practice  of 
polygamy  in  the  territories  of  the  United  States  and  other 
places,  and  disapproving  and  annulling  certain  Acts  of 


76  Sinners  and  Saints. 

the  Legislative  Assembly  of  the  Territory  of  Utah ; '  or 
second,  that  he  believes  it  right  for  a  man  to  have  more 
than  one  living  and  undivorced  wife  at  the  same  time,  or  to 
live  in  the  practice  of  cohabiting  with  more  than  one  woman; 
and  any  person  appearing  or  offered  as  a  juror  or  talesman, 
and  challenged  on  either  of  the  foregoing  grounds,  may  be 
questioned  on  his  oath  as  to  the  existence  of  any  such 
cause  of  challenge,  and  other  evidence  may  be  introduced 
bearing  upon  the  question  raised  by  such  challenge ;  and 
this  question  shall  be  tried  by  the  court.  But  as  to  the  first 
ground  of  challenge  before  mentioned,  the  person  challenged 
shall  not  be  bound  to  answer  if  he  shall  say  upon  his  oath 
that  he  declines  on  the  ground  that  his  answer  may  tend  to 
criminate  himself;  and  if  he  shall  answer  as  to  said  first 
ground,  his  answer  shall  not  be  given  in  evidence  in  any 
criminal  prosecution  against  him  for  any  offence  named  in 
sections  one  or  three  of  this  Act;  but  if  he  declines  to 
answer  on  any  ground,  he  shall  be  rejected  as  incompetent. 

"SEC.  6 — That  the  President  is  hereby  authorized  to 
grant  amnesty  to  such  classes  of  offenders,  guilty  before  the 
passage  of  this  act  of  bigamy,  polygamy,  or  unlawful  coha- 
bitation, on  such  conditions  and  under  such  limitations  as 
he  shall  think  proper ;  but  no  such  amnesty  shall  have  effect 
unless  the  conditions  thereof  shall  be  complied  with. 

"SEC.  7 — That  the  issue  of  bigamous  or  polygamous 
marriages,  known  as  Mormon  marriages,  in  cases  in  which 
such  marriages  have  been  solemnized  according  to  the 
ceremonies  of  the  Mormon  sect,  in  any  territory  of  the 
United  States,  and  such  issue  shall  have  been  born  before 
the  ist  January,  A.D.  1883,  are  hereby  legitimated. 

"SEC.  8 — That  no  polygamist,  bigamist,  or  any  person 
cohabiting  with  more  than  one  woman,  and  no  woman 
cohabiting  with  any  of  the  persons  described  as  aforesaid  in 


The  Edmunds  Bill.  77 

this  section,  in  any  territory  or  other  place  over  which  the 
United  States  have  exclusive  jurisdiction,  shall  be  entitled 
to  vote  at  any  election  held  in  any  such  territory  or  other 
place,  or  be  eligible  for  election  or  appointment  to  or  be 
entitled  to  hold  any  office  or  place  of  public  trust,  honour, 
or  emolument  in,  under,  or  for  any  such  territory  or  place, 
or  under  the  United  States. 

"  SEC.  9 — That  all  the  registration  and  election  offices  of 
every  description  in  the  Territory  of  Utah  are  hereby 
declared  vacant,  and  each  and  every  duty  relating  to  the 
registration  of  voters,  the  conduct  of  elections,  the  receiving 
or  rejection  of  votes,  and  the  canvassing  and  returning  of 
the  same,  and  the  issuing  of  certificates  or  other  evidence 
of  election  in  said  territory,  shall,  until  other  provision  be 
made  by  the  Legislative  Assembly  of  said  territory  as  is 
hereinafter  by  this  section  provided,  be  performed  under 
the  existing  laws  of  the  United  States  and  of  said  territory 
by  proper  persons,  who  shall  be  appointed  to  execute  such 
offices  and  perform  such  duties  by  a  board  of  five  persons, 
to  be  appointed  by  the  President,  by  and  with  the  advice 
and  consent  of  the  Senate,  not  more  than  three  of  whom 
shall  be  members  of  one  political  party,  a  majority  of  whom 
shall  be  a  quorum.  The  canvass  and  return  of  all  the 
votes  at  elections  in  said  territory  for  members  of  the 
Legislative  Assembly  thereof  shall  also  be  returned  to 
said  board,  which  shall  canvass  all  such  returns  and  issue 
certificates  of  election  to  those  persons  who,  being  eligible 
for  such  election,  shall  appear  to  have  been  lawfully  elected, 
which  certificates  shall  be  the  only  evidence  of  the  right  of 
such  persons  to  sit  in  such  Assembly,  provided  said  board 
of  five  persons  shall  not  exclude  any  persons  otherwise 
eligible  to  vote  from  the  polls,  on  account  of  any  opinion 
such  person  may  entertain  on  the  subject  of  bigamy  or 


78  Sinners  and  Saints. 

polygamy ;  nor  shall  they  refuse  to  count  any  such  vote  on 
account  of  the  opinion  of  the  person  casting  it  on  the 
subject  of  bigamy  or  polygamy;  but  each  house  of  such 
Assembly,  after  its  organization,  shall  have  power  to  decide 
upon  the  elections  and  qualifications  of  its  members." 

The  day  also  on  which  I  arrived  in  Salt  Lake  City  was 
itself  a  memorable  one,  for  it  was  the  closing  day  of  the 
fifty  second  annual  conference  of  the  Church  of  Jesus  Christ 
of  Latter-Day  Saints— notable,  beyond  other  conferences, 
as  a  public  expression  of  the  opinions  of  the  leaders  of 
the  Mormon  Church,  at  a  crisis  of  great  importance.  The 
whole  hierarchy  of  Utah  took  part  in  the  proceedings,  and  it 
was  fitly  closed  by  an  address  from  President  Taylor  himself, 
evoking  such  a  demonstration  of  fervid  and  yet  dignified 
enthusiasm  as  I  have  never  seen  equalled. 

My  telegram  to  the  New  York  World  on  that  occasion 
may  still  stand  as  my  description  of  the  scene. 

"  Acquainted  though  I  am  with  displays  of  Oriental  fanati- 
cism and  Western  revivalism,  I  set  this  Mormon  enthusiasm 
on  one  side  as  being  altogether  of  a  different  character,  for  it 
not  only  astonishes  by  its  fervour,  but  commands  respect  by 
its  sincere  sobriety.  The  congregation  of  the  Saints  assem- 
bled in  the  Tabernacle,  numbering,  by  my  own  careful 
computation,  eleven  thousand  odd,  and  composed  in  almost 
exactly  equal  parts  of  the  two  sexes,  reminded  me  of  the 
Puritan  gatherings  of  the  past  as  I  imagined  them,  and  of  my 
personal  experiences  of  the  Transvaal  Boers  asT  know  them. 
There  was  no  rant,  no  affectation,  no  straining  after  thea- 
trical effect.  The  very  simplicity  of  this  great  gathering  of 
country-folk  was  striking  in  the  extreme,  and  significant 
from  first  to  last  of  a  power  that  should  hardly  be  trifled 
with  by  sentimental  legislation.  I  have  read,  I  can 
assert,  everything  of  importance  that  has  ever  been  written 


In  the  Tabernacle. 


79 


about  the  Mormons,  but  a  single  glance  at  these  thou- 
sands of  hardy  men  fresh  from  their  work  at  the  plough 
— at  the  rough  vehicles  they  had  come  in,  ranged  along  the 
street  leading  to  the  Tabernacle,  at  their  horses,  with  the 
mud  of  the  fields  still  upon  them — convinced  me  that  I 
knew  nothing  whatever  of  this  interesting  people.  Of  the 
advice  given  at  this  Conference  it  is  easy  to  speak  briefly, 
for  all  counselled  alike.  In  his  opening  address,  President 
Taylor  said, — 

" '  The  antagonism  we  now  experience  here  has  always 
existed,  but  we  have  also  come  out  of  our  troubles 
strengthened.  I  say  to  you,  be  calm,  for  the  Lord  God 
Omnipotent  reigneth,  and  He  will  take  care  of  us.' 

"  Every  succeeding  speaker  repeated  the  same  advice,  and 
the  outcome  of  the  five  days'  Conference  may  therefore  be 
said  to  have  been  an  exhortation  to  the  Saints  '  to  pay  no 
attention  whatever  to  outside  matters,  but  to  live  their 
religion,  leave  the  direction  of  affairs  to  their  priesthood, 
and  the  result  in  the  hands  of  God.' 

"  Bishops  Sharp  and  duff  challenged  the  Union  to  show 
more  conspicuous  examples  of  loyalty  than  those  that 
'  brighten  the  records  of  Utah  ;'  Bishop  Hatch  referred  to  a 
'  Revolutionary  '  ancestry ;  and  Apostle  Brigham  Young 
(a  son  of  the  late  President)  alluded  to  the  advocacy  in 
certain  quarters  of  warlike  measures  with  which  he  was 
not  himself  in  sympathy.  ( I  am  not,'  he  said,  '  altogether 
belligerent,  and  am  not  advocating  warlike  measures,  but  I 
do  want  to  advocate  our  standing  true  and  steadfast  all  the 
time.  If  I  am  to  be  persecuted  for  living  my  religion, 
why,  I  am  to  be  persecuted.  That  is  all.  Dodging  the 
issue  will  not  change  it.  I  have  read  the  bill  passed  to 
injure  us,  but  am  satisfied  that  everything, will  come  out 
all  right,  that  the  designs  of  our  enemies  will  be  frus- 


80  Sinners  and  Saints. 

trated,    and  confusion  will  come  upon    them.'      Apostle 
Woodruff  reminded  the  enemies  of    the   Church   that  it 

*  costs  a  great  deal  to  shed  the  blood  of  God's  people ;' 
and  Apostle  Lorenzo  Snow  said,  — 'I    do   not   have    any 
fear  or  trouble  about  fiery  ordeals,  but  if  any  do  come  we 
should  all  be  ready  for  them.' 

"  These  and  other  references  to  possible  trouble  seem  to 
show  that  the  leaders  of  the  Church  consider  the  state  of 
the*  public  mind  such  as  to  make  these  allusions  necessary. 
But  loyalty  to  the  Constitution  was  the  text  of  every  address, 
and  even  as  regards  the  Edmunds  Bill  itself,  Apostle  Lorenzo 
Snow  said, — '  There  is  something  good  in  it,  for  it  legalizes 
every  issue  from  plural  marriages  up  to  January  i,  1883. 
No  person  a  few  years  ago  could  have  ever  expected  such 
an  act  of  Congress.  But  it  has  passed,  and  been  signed 
by  the  President.'  The  expressions  of  the  speakers  with 
regard  to  polygamy  were  at  times  very  explicit.  The  Pre- 
sident yesterday  said, — '  Some  of  our  kind  friends  have 
suggested  that  we  cast  our  wives  off,  but  our  feelings  are 
averse  to  that.  We  are  bound  to  them  for  time  and 
eternity — we  have  covenanted  before  high  heaven  to  remain 
bound  to  them.  And  I  declare,  in  the  name  of  Israel's 
God,  that  we  will  keep  the  covenant,  and  I  ask  all  to  say  to 
this  Amen.'  (Here,  like  the  sound  of  a  great  sea- wave 
breaking  in  a  cave,  a  vast  Amen  arose  from  the  concourse.) 

*  We  may  have  to  shelter  behind  a  hedge  while  the  storm 
is  passing  over,  but  let  us  be  true  to  ourselves,  our  wives, 
our  families,  and  our   God,  and  all  will  be  well.'     Again 
to-day  he  exhorted  the  Saints  'to  keep  within  the  law, 
but   at  the  same  time  to  live  their   religion  and  be  true 
to  their  wives,  and  the  principles  of  their  Church.'     Several 
other  speakers  touched    upon  the  fact  of  plurality   being 
an  integral  doctrine  of  Mormonism,  and  not  to  be  interfered 


Amen  !  81 


with  without  committing  an  outrage  against  their  religion. 
Retaliation  was  never  suggested,  unless  the  advice  given  to 
the  congregation  to  make  all  their  purchases  at  Mormon 
shops  may  be  accepted  as  a  tendency  towards  Boycotting. 
But  the  Church  was  exhorted  to  stand  firm,  to  allow  per- 
secution to  run  its  course,  and  above  all,  to  be  '  manly  in 
their  fidelity  to  their  wives.'  Nor  could  anything  exceed 
the  impressiveness  of  the  response  which  the  people  gave 
instantaneously  to  the  appeal  of  their  President  for  the  sup- 
port of  their  voices.  The  great  Tabernacle  was  filled  with 
waves  of  sound  as  the  '  Am  ens  '  of  the  congregation  burst 
out.  The  shout  of  men  going  into  battle  was  not  more 
stirring  than  the  closing  words  of  this  memorable  conference 
spoken  as  if  by  one  vast  voice  :  c  Hosannah  !  for  the  Lord 
God  Omnipotent  reigneth ;  He  is  with  us  now  and  will  be 
for  ever.  Amen  ! '  " 


82  Sinners  and  Saints. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

LEGISLATION   AGAINST   PLURALITY. 

A  people  under  a  ban — What  the  Mormon  men  think  of  the  Anti- 
Polygamy  Bill — And  what  the  Mormon  women  say  of  polygamy — 
Puzzling  confidences — Practical  plurality  a  very  dull  affair — But 
theoretically  a  hedge  hog  problem —Matrimonial  eccentricities — 
The  fashionable  milliner  fatal  to  plurality — Absurdity  of  compar- 
ing Moslem  polygamy  with  Mormon  plurality — Are  the  women  of 
Utah  happy? — Their  enthusiasm  for  Women's  Rights. 

UTAH,  therefore,  at  the  time  of  my  visit  was  "  a  pro- 
claimed district" — to  use  trie  Anglo-Indian  phrase  for 
tracts  suspected  of  infanticide — and  every  Mormon  within 
it  had  a  share  in  the  disgrace  thrust  upon  it.  Nor  was 
the  triumph  of  the  Gentile  concealed  at  the  result.  The 
Mormons,  therefore,  were  consolidated,  in  the  first  instance, 
by  the  equal  pressure  of  the  new  law  upon  all  sections  of 
the  church  alike  ;  in  the  next  by  the  openly  expressed  exul- 
tation of  the  Gentiles.  I  wrote  at  the  time  :  "  They  feel  that 
they  are  under  a  common  ban.  The  children  have  read  the 
Bill  or  have  had  its  purport  explained  to  them,  and  it  is  well 
known  even  among  the  Gentiles  how  keen  the  grief  was  in 
every  household  when  the  news  that  the  Bill  had  passed 
reached  Utah.  Wives  still  shed  bitter  tears  over  the  act  of 
Congress  which  breaks  up  their  happy  homes,  and  robs 
them  and  their  children  of  the  protecting  presence  of  a 
husband  and  father.  The  Bill  was  aimed  to  put  a  stop  to  a 
supposed  self-indulgence  of  the  men.  But  the  Mormons 
have  never  thought  of  it  in  this  light  at  all.  They  see  in  it 


Under  a  Ban.  83 


only  an  attempt  to  punish  their  wives.  And  it  is  this  alleged 
cruelty  to  their  wives  and  children  that  has  stubborned  the 
Mormon  men. 

Meanwhile  the  Mormons  affect  a  contemptuous  disre- 
gard of  the  Commission  and  all  its  works.  I  have  spoken 
to  many,  some  of  them  leaders  of  local  opinion,  and  every- 
where I  find  the  same  amused  indifference  to  it  expressed. 
"  We  have  too  many  real  troubles,"  they  say,  "  to  go  manu- 
facturing imaginary  ones.  We  must  live  our  religion  in  the 
present  and  leave  the  future  to  God." 

"  But,"  I  would  say,  "  this  is  not  a  question  of  the  future. 
All  children  born  after  the  ist  of  January,  1883,  will  be 
illegitimate — and  in  these  matters  Nature  is  generally  very 
punctual.  Now,  are  you  going  to  break  the  law  or  going  to 
keep  it?" 

Some  would  answer  "  neither,"  and  some  "  both,"  but  all 
would  agree  that  there  was  no  necessity  for  worrying  them- 
selves about  evils  which  may  never  befall,  and  that  the 
Edmunds  Bill,  with  all  its  malignity  and  cunning,  was 
"a  stupid  blunder,"  an  "impossible"  enactment,  "an 
absurdity."  So  the  questioning  would  probably  end  in 
laughter. 

"  But  in  spite  of  this  expressed  indifference  to  the  working 
of  the  Bill,  there  can  be  little  doubt  that  the  more  re- 
sponsible Mormons  have  already  made  up  their  minds  as  to 
the  course  they  will  take.  c  The  people '  will  follow  them 
of  course,  and  forecasting  the  future,  therefore,  I  anticipate 
that  a  small  minority  will  break. down  under  the  pressure, 
and  will  return  their  plural  wives  to  their  parents,  with  such 
provision  as  they  can  make  for  their  future  support. 

"  Of  the  remainder,  that  is  to  say  the  bulk  of  the  Mor- 
mons, I  believe,  indeed  I  feel  convinced,  that  they  will  simply 
ignore  the  Bill  so  long  as  it  ignores  them,  and  that  when  it 

G    2 


84  Sinners  and  Saints. 

is  put  in  force  against  them,  they  will  accept  the  penalty 
without  complaint.  In  some  cases  the  onus  of  proving  guilt 
will  no  doubt  be  made  heavier  by  '  passive  resistance,'  and 
where  the  whole  family  is  solid  in  throwing  obstacles  in  the 
way  of  espionage,  conviction  will  necessarily  be  very  difficult. 
As  a  case  in  point  may  be  cited  the  instance  of  the  Mormon 
in  Salt  Lake  City,  who  married  a  second  wife  and  success- 
fully defied  both  the  law  and  the  public  to  fix  his  relation- 
ship to  the  lady  in  question  and  her  children.  She  herself 
was  content  with  saying  that  her  children  were  honourable  in 
birth,  and  that  the  wedding-ring  on  her  finger  was  a  fact  and 
not  a  fiction.  But  who  her  husband  was  neither  the  law  nor 
the  press  could  find  out  for  two  years,  and  only  then  by 
the  confession  of  the  sinner  himself." 

I  was  sitting  one  day  with  two  Mormon  ladies,  plural 
wives,  and  the  conversation  turned  upon  marriage. 

"But,"  said  I,  "now  that  you  have  experienced  the 
disadvantages  of  plurality,  shall  you  advise  your  daughters 
to  follow  your  example  ?  " 

"  No,"  said  both  promptly,  "  I  shall  not  advise  them  one 
way  or  the  other.  They  must  make  their  own  choice,  just 
as  I  did." 

"  Choice,  I  am  afraid,  is  hardly  a  choice  though. 
Plurality,  I  fear,  is  too  nearly  a  religious  duty  to  leave  much 
option  with  girls." 

u  Nonsense,"  said  the  elder  of  the  two,  "  I  was  just  as  free 
to  choose  my  husband  as  you  were  to  choose  your  wife.  I 
married  for  love." 

"  And  do  you  really  believe,"  broke  in  the  other,  "  that 
any  woman  in  the  world  would  marry  a  man  she  did  not 
like  from  a  sense  of  religious  duty  /  " 

"  Yes,"  said  I,  regardless  of  the  fair  speaker's  scorn,  "  I 
thought  plenty  of  women  had  done  so.  More  than  that, 


Preferences  for  Polygamy.  85 

thousands  have  renounced  marriage  with  men  whom  they 
loved  and  taken  the  veil,  for  Heaven's  sake." 

"Very  true,"  was  the  reply,  "a  woman  may  renounce 
marriage  and  become  a  nun  as  a  religious  duty.  But  the 
same  motive  would  never  have  persuaded  that  woman  to 
marry  against  her  inclinations.  There  is  all  the  difference 
in  the  world  between  the  two.  Any  woman  will  tell  you 
that." 

"Then  you  mean  to  say,"  I  persisted,  "that  you  and 
your  friends  consider  that  you  are  voluntary  agents  when 
you  go  into  plurality  ?  that  you  do  so  entirely  of  your  own 
accord  and  of  your  own  free  choice  ?  " 

"  Certainly  I  do,"  was  the  reply.     "  You  may  not  believe 
us,  of  course,  but  that  I  cannot  help.     All  I  can  say  to  you 
is,  that  if  I  had  the  last  seven  years  of  my  life  to  live  over 
again,  I  should  do  exactly  what  I  did  seven  years  ago." 
*     "  And  what  was  that  ?  "  I  asked. 

"  Refuse  to  marry  a  Gentile,  to  please  my  friends,  and 
marry  a  polygamist  to  please  myself.  I  had  two  offers  from 
unmarried  men,  either  of  which  my  family  were  very  anxious 
I  should  accept.  But  I  did  not  care  for  either.  But  when 
my  husband,  who  had  already  two  wives,  proposed  to  me, 
I  accepted  him,  in  spite  of  my  friends'  protests.  And  I 
would  marry  him  again  if  the  choice  came  over  again." 

"  Then  yours  must  surely  be  exceptional  cases,  for  I  can- 
not bring  myself  to  believe  that  those  who  have  been 
'  first '  wives  would  ever  consent  to  their  husband's  re-mar- 
riage, if  their  past  could  be  recalled." 

"  But  I  was  his  first  wife,"  said  the  elder  lady,  "  and  my 
husband's  second  wife  was  his  first  love.  And  if  my  past 
were  recalled  as  you  put  it,  I  would  give  my  consent  just  as 
willingly  as  I  did  twelve  years  ago.  Perhaps,"  said  she, 
laughing,  "  you  will  call  mine  an  '  exceptional '  case  too. 


86  Sinners  and  Saints. 

But  if  you  go  through  the  Mormons  individually,  I  am  afraid 
you  will  find  that  the  '  exceptional '  cases  are  very  large." 

"And  how  about  the  minority?"  I  asked,  "the  wives 
whose  hearts  have  been  broken  by  plurality  ?  " 

"  Well,"  was  the  reply,  "  there  are  plenty  of  unhappy 
wives.  But  this  is  surely  not  peculiar  to  polygamy,  is  it  ? 
There  are  plenty  of  women  who  find  they  have  made  a  mis- 
take. But  is  it  not  the  same  in  monogamy  ?  And  yet,  though 
our  poor  women  can  get  divorces  with  no  trouble,  and  at  an 
expense  of  only  ten  dollars,  and  are  certain  of  a  competence 
after  divorce,  and  of  re-marriage  if  they  choose,  they  do  not 
do  it  There  is  no  greater  disgrace  attaching  to  divorce 
here  than  in  Europe.  Indeed  allowances  are  made  for 
the  special  trials"  of  plurality,  and  mere  unhappiness  is  in 
itself  quite  sufficient  for  a  woman  to  get  a  divorce.  Yet 
divorce  is  very  rare  indeed,  not  one-tenth  as  common  as  in 
Massachusetts,  for  instance." 

"  There  are  bad  men  amongst  us  just  as  there  are  every- 
where," continued  the  other  lady,  "  and  a  bad  Mormon  is 
the  worst  man  there  can  be.  But  we  are  not  the  only 
people  that  have  bad  husbands  among  them." 
.  And  so  it  went  on.  I  was  met  at  every  point  by  assur- 
ances as  sincere  as  tone  of  voice  and  language  could  make 
them  appear.  Eventually  I  scrambled  out  of  the  subject 
as  best  I  could,  covering  my  retreat  with  the  remark, — 

"Well,  my  only  justification  in  saying  that  I  do  not 
believe  you,  is  this,  that  if  I  said  I  did,  no  one  would  believe 
me." 

Of  this  much,  however,  I  am  convinced,  that  whatever  may 
have  been  true  thirty  years  ago — and  there  has  not  been  a 
single  trustworthy  book  written  about  Mormonism  since 
1862 — it  is  not  true  to-day  that  the  Church  interferes  with 
the  domestic  relations  of  the  people.  When  there  is  a 


Practical  Plurality.  87 

divorce  the  Church  takes  care  that  the  man  does  not  turn 
his  wife  adrift  without  provision.  But  as  far  as  I  have  been 
able  to  learn,  the  authorities  do  not  meddle  in  any  other  way 
between  man  and  woman,  so  long,  of  course,  as  neither  is  a 
scandal  to  the  community.  When  a  scandal  arises  the 
Church  takes  prompt  notice  of  it,  and  the  offender,  if  incor- 
rigible, is  next  heard  of  as  "apostatizing,"  or,  in  other 
words,  being  turned  out  of  Mormonism  as  unfit  to  live  in 
it.  But  once  married  into  polygamy,  religion  is  all-power- 
ful in  reconciling  women  to  the  sacrifices  they  have  to 
make,  precisely,  I  suppose,  in  the  same  way  that  religion 
reconciles  the  nun  to  the  sacrifices  which  her  Church  accepts 
from  her. 

Practical  Plurality,  then,  is  a  very  dull  affair.  I  was  disap- 
pointed in  it.  I  had  expected  to  see  men  with  long  whips, 
sitting  on  fences,  swearing  at  their  gangs  of  wives  at  work  in 
the  fields.  I  expected  every  now  and  then  to  hear  of  drunken 
saints  beating  seven  or  eight  wives  all  at  once,  and  perhaps 
even  to  have  seen  the  unusual  spectacle  of  a  house  full  of 
women  and  children  rushing  screaming  into  the  street  with  one 
intoxicated  husband  and  father  in  pursuit.  Everywhere  else 
in  the  world  wife-beating  is  a  pastime  more  or  less  indulged 
in  coram  publico.  In  London,  at  any  rate,  men  so  arrange 
their  chastisements  that  you  can  hear  the  screams  from  the 
street  and  see  the  wife  run  out  of  the  front  door  on  to  the 
pavement.  In  Salt  Lake  City  therefore,  it  seemed  only 
reasonable  to  suppose  that  the  amount  of  the  screaming  would 
be  in  proportion  to  the  number  of  the  wives,  and  that  even- 
tually ill-used  families  would  be  seen  pouring  simultaneously 
out  of  several  doors,  and  scattering  over  the  premises  with 
hideous  ululation.  Where  are  the  aged  apostles  who  have 
so  often  been  described  as  going  about  in  their  swallow-tail 
coats  courting  each  other's  daughters  ?  Where  are  the  "  girl- 


88  Sinners  and  Saints. 

hunting  elders  "  and  "  ogling  bishops  "  ?  Where  are  the 
families  of  one  man  and  ten  wives  to  be  found  taking  the 
air  together  that  pictures  have  so  often  shown  us  ?  Of  course 
there  are  anomalies,  and  very  objectionable  they  are.  Thus 
one  young  man  has  married  his  half-aunt,  another  his  half- 
sister,  and  three  sisters  have  wedded  the  same  man ;  but 
these  instances  are  all  "  historical,"  so  to  speak,  and  have 
been  so  often  trotted  out  by  anti-Mormon  book-makers, 
that  they  are  hardly  worth  repeating.  Nor  does  it  appear 
to  me  to  be  of  any  force  to  begin  raking  to-day  into  the  old 
suspicions  as  to  what  Mormons  dead  and  gone  used  to  do. 

What  is  polygamy  like  to-day  ?  That  is  the  question. 
Polygamy  to-day,  then,  has  settled  down  into  the  most 
matter-of-fact  system  that  is  possible  for  such  exceptional 
domestic  arrangements.  In  the  first  place,  it  is  not 
compulsory,  and  some  of  the  leading  saints  are  monogamous. 
About  one-fourth  of  married  Mormons  are  polygamous,  and 
of  these  something  less  than  three  per  cent,  are  under  forty 
years  of  age.  The  bill  of  1862  making  polygamy  penal 
effected  little  or  no  difference  in  the  annual  average  of 
plural  marriages,  but  since  1877  there  has  been  a  very 
sensible  decrease. 

These  facts,  then,  seem  to  prove  first  that  polygamy,  though 
accepted  as  a  doctrine  of  the  Church,  is  not  generally  acted 
upon— and  why  ?  For  the  best  of  reasons.  Either  that  the 
men  cannot  afford  to  keep  up  more  than  one  establishment, 
or  that  they  are  too  happy  with  one  wife  to  care  to  marry  a 
second,  or  that  the  first  wife  refuses  to  allow  any  increase  of 
the  household — all  of  which  reasons  show  that  polygamy  is 
controlled  by  prudential  and  domestic  considerations,  and 
is  not  the  indiscriminate  "  debauchery  "  that  so  many  of  the 
public  believe  it  to  be.  It  is  also  evident  that  the  younger 

Mormons  are  not  so  active  in  marrying  as  the  elder  men 


A  Hedgehog  Problem.  89 

were  at  their  age,  for  ten  years  ago  the  proportion  of 
polygamous  Mormons  under  forty  years  of  age  was  much 
greater,  which  may  mean  that  the  inaction  of  Congress  was 
gradually  working  towards  the  end  which  the  action  of  '62 
thwarted.  By  legislating  against  polygamy,  plural  marriages 
increased — 1863  to  1866  being  as  busy  years  in  the  Endow- 
ment House  as  any  that  ever  preceded  them — while  by 
letting  polygamy  severely  alone  they  have  been  decreasing. 

Polygamy  in  fact,  by  the  relaxation  of  the  regime,  now 
that  Brigham  Young's  personal  government  has  ceased,  has 
taken  its  place  as  an  ordinary  civil  institution,  entailing 
serious  responsibilities  upon  those  who  choose  to  enter  into 
it,  and  not  carrying  with  it  such  promises  of  temporal 
advantage  as  at  one  time  were  reserved  for  the  plurally 
wedded.  There  is  not  the  same  enthusiasm  about  it  that 
there  was,  owing  probably  to  the  diffusion  among  the  people 
of  a  better  sense  of  the  position  of  women  and  of  the 
opinions  of  the  world  with  regard  to  polygamy.  Under  the 
administration  of  President  Taylor  there  has  been  a  marked 
disinclination  in  the  Church  to  interfere  with  the  domestic 
relations  of  the  community,  except,  as  I  have  said  before, 
when  reprimand  or  punishment  seemed  to  be  called  for ;  and 
it  is  reasonable  therefore  to  argue  that  the  material  decline  in 
the  number  of  plural  marriages  between  1878  and  1882  would 
have  continued,  the  proportion  of  young  enthusiasts  have 
gone  on  decreasing  and,  as  the  elders  died  out,  the  total  of 
polygamists  become  annually  less.  Such,  I  would  contend, 
is  the  reasonable  inference  from  the  facts  I  have  given. 

Polygamy,  as  a  problem,  reminds  me  of  a  hedgehog. 
But  as  the  hedgehog  may  not  be  familiar  to  my  American 
readers,  let  me  explain.*  The  hedgehog,  then,  is  a  small 
animal  with  a  very  elastic  skin,  closely  set  all  over  with 
strong  sharp  spines.  A  rural  life  is  all  its  joy.  In  habits 


9O  Sinners  and  Saints. 

and  character  it  assimilates  somewhat  to  the  Mormon 
peasant,  being  inoffensive,  useful,  industrious,  prolific,  and 
largely  frugivorous.  But  when  hunted  it  is  otherwise.  For 
the  hedgehog,  if  closely  pursued,  takes  hold  of  its  ears  with 
its  hind  paws  and,  tucking  its  nose  into  the  middle  of  its 
stomach,  rolls  itself  into  a  perfect  ball.  The  spines  then 
stand  out  straight  and  in  every  direction  equally.  Nor, 
thus  defended,  does  the  hedgehog  shun  the  public  eye.  On 
the  contrary,  it  lies  out  in  the  full  sunlight,  in  the  middle  of 
the  sidewalk  or  the  dusty  high-road,  a  challenge  to  the  in- 
quisitive attention  of  every  passing  dog.  And  you  can  no 
more  keep  a  dog  from  going  out  of  its  way  to  reconnoitre 
the  queer-looking  object  than  you  can  keep  needles  away 
from  loadstones.  They  do  not  all  behave  in  the  same  way 
to  it,  though.  The  mutton-headed  dogs  sit  down  by  it  and 
contemplate  it  vacantly,  and  go  away  after  a  bit  in  a  kind 
of  brown  study.  The  silly  ones  smell  it  too  close,  and  go  off 
down  the  road  in  a  streak  of  dust  and  yelp.  The  experi- 
enced dogs  sniff  at  it  and  trot  on.  "Only  that  hedgehog 
again!"  they  say.  The  malicious  prick  their  noses  and 
lose  their  temper,  and  then  prick  their  noses  worse  and  lose 
their  tempers  more.  The  puppy  barks  at  it  remotely, 
receding  every  time  by  the  recoil  of  its  own  bark,  till  it 
barks  itself  backwards  into  the  opposite  ditch.  But 
the  hedgehog  lies  perfectly  still,  as  round  and  as  spiny 
as  ever,  in  the  middle  of  the  high-road.  All  the  dogs 
are  much  the  same  to  it.  Some  roll  it  a  little  one  way, 
and  some  roll  it  a  little  the  other.  It  gets  dusty  or  it 
gets  wet.  But  there  it  lies  as  inscrutable,  puzzling,  and 
odious  to  passing  dogs  as  ever.  By-and-by  when  it  is 
dark,  and  everybody  has  got  tired  of  poking  it  and  sniffing 
it  and  wondering  at  it,  the  hedgehog  will  quietly  unroll 
itself  and  creep  away  to  some  secluded  spot  betwixt  orchard 


Eccentric  Love  Affairs.  91 

and  corn-field,  and  remote  from  the  highways  of  men  and 
their  dogs. 

I  am  particularly  led  to  this  moralizing  because  a 
Mormon  has  just  been  enumerating,  at  my  request,  some 
of  the  more  extraordinary  anomalies  that  he  knows  of  in 
recent  polygamy.  I  took  notes  of  a  few,  and  they  seem 
to  me  sufficiently  puzzling  to  justify  a  place  in  these 
pages. 

A  young  and  very  pretty  girl,  in  "  the  upper  ten "  of 
Mormonis'm,  married  a  young  man  of  her  own  class,  but 
stipulated  before  marriage  that  he  should  marry  a  second 
wife  as  soon  as  he  could  afford  to  do  so. 

A  young  couple  were  engaged,  but  quarrelled,  and  the 
lover  out  of  pique  married  another  lady.  Two  years  later 
his  first  love,  having  refused  other  offers  in  the  mean  time, 
married  him  as  his  second  wife. 

A  man  having  married  a  second  wife  to  please  himself, 
married  a  third  to  please  his  first.  "She  was  getting  old, 
she  said,  and  wanted  a  younger  woman  to  help  her  about 
the  house." 

A  couple  about  to  be  married  made  an  agreement 
between  themselves  that  the  husband  should  not  marry 
again  unless  it  was  one  of  the  relatives  of  the  first  wife. 
The  ladies  selected  have  refused,  and  the  husband  remains 
true  to  his  promise. 

The  belle  of  the  settlement,  a  Gentile,  refused  monoga- 
mist offers  of  marriage,  and  married  a  Mormon  who  had 
two  wives  already. 

A  girl,  distracted  between  her  love  for  her  suitor  and 
her  love  for  her  mother,  compromised  in  her  affections  by 
stipulating  that  he  should  marry  both  her  mother  and 
herself,  which  he  did. 

A  girl,  a  Gentile,  bitterly  opposed  at  first  to  polygamy, 


92  Sinners  and  Saints. 

married  a  polygamist  at  the  solicitation  of  his  first  wife,  her 
great  friend. 

Two  girls  were  great  friends,  and  one  of  them,  getting 
engaged  to  a  man  (by  no  means  of  prepossessing  appear- 
ance), persuaded  her  friend  to  get  engaged  to  him  too,  and 
he  married  them  both  on  the  same  day. 

These  are  enough.  Moreover,  they  are  not  isolated 
cases,  and  I  believe  I  am  right  in  saying  that  I  can  give  a 
second  instance,  of  recent  date,  of  nearly  all  of  them.  Nor 
are  these  anonymous  fictions  like  the  "  victims  "  of  anti- 
Mormon  writers.  I  have  names  for  each  of  them.  One 
of  them  tells  me  she  could  name  "  scores "  of  the  same 
kind. 

It  appears  to  me,  therefore,  that  the  women  of  Utah  have 
shaken  somewhat  the  modern  theories  of  the  conjugal  re- 
lation, and — with  all  one's  innate  aversion  to  a  system 
which  is  capable  of  such  odious  abnormalisms — a  most 
interesting  and  baffling  problem  for  study.  It  is,  as  I  said, 
a  regular  hedgehog  of  a  problem.  If  you  could  only 
catch  hold  of  it  by  the  nose  or  the  tail,  you  could  scrunch 
it  up  easily.  But  it  has  spines  all  over.  It  is  at  once 
provocative  and  unapproachable. 

I  remember  once  in  India  giving  a  tame  monkey  a  lump 
of  sugar  inside  a  corked  bottle.  The  monkey  was  of  an 
inquiring  kind,  and  it  nearly  killed  it.  Sometimes,  in  an 
impulse  of  disgust,  it  would  throw  the  bottle  away,  out  of 
its  own  reach,  and  then  be  distracted  till  it  was  given  back 
to  it.  At  others  it  would  sit  with  a  countenance  of  the 
most  intense  dejection,  contemplating  the  bottled  sugar, 
and  then,  as  if  pulling  itself  together  for  another  effort  at 
solution,  would  sternly  take  up  the  problem  afresh,  and 
gaze -into  it.  It  would  tilt  it  up  one  way  and  try  to  drink 
the  sugar  through  the  cork,  and  then,  suddenly  reversing 


A  Monkey's  Puzzle.  93 

it,  try  to  catch  it  as  it  fell  out  at  the  bottom.  Under  the 
impression  that  it  could  capture  it  by  a  surprise  it  kept 
rapping  its  teeth  against  the  glass  in  futile  bites,  and, 
warming  to  the  pursuit  of  the  revolving  lump,  used  to  tie 
itself  into  regular  knots  round  the  bottle.  Fits  of  the  most 
ludicrous  melancholy  would  alternate  with  these  spasms  of 
furious  speculation,  and  how  the  matter  would  have  ended 
it  is  impossible  to  say.  But  the  monkey  one  night  got 
loose  and  took  the  bottle  with  it.  And  it  has  always  been 
a  delight  to  me  to  think  that  whole  forestfuls  of  monkeys 
have  by  this  time  puzzled  themselves  into  fits  over  the 
great  Problem  of  Bottled  Sugar.  What  profound  theories 
those  long-tailed  philosophers  must  have  evolved  !  What 
polemical  acrimony  that  bottle  must  have  provoked  !  And 
what  a  Confucius  the  original  monkey  must  have  become  ! 
A  single  morning  with  such  a  Sanhedrim  discussing  such 
a  matter  would  surely  have  satiated  even  a  Swift  with 
satire. 

Taking  then  polygamy  to  be  the  bottle,  and  the  Gentile  to 
be  the  monkey,  it  appears  to  me  that  the  only  alternatives 
in  solution  are  these  :  Either  smash  the  whole  thing  up 
altogether,  or  else  fall  back  upon  that  easy-going  old  doc- 
trine of  wise  men,  that  "  morality  "  is  after  all  a  matter  of 
mere  geography. 

An  Oriental  legend  shows  us  Allah  sitting  in  casual 
conversation  with  a  roan.  A  cockroach  comes  along,  and 
Allah  stamps  on  it.  "  What  did  you  do  that  for  ?  "  asks 
the  human,  looking  at  the  ruined  insect.  "  Because  I  am 
God  Almighty,"  was  the  reply. 

Now,  polygamy  can  be  smashed  flat  if  the  States  choose 
to  show  their  power  to  do  so.  But  no  man  who  takes  a 
part  in  that  demolition  must  suppose  that  in  so  doing  he 
will  be  accepted  by  the  community  as  rescuing  them  from 


94  Sinners  and  Saints. 

degradation.  If  left  alone,  polygamy  will  die  out.  Mormons 
deny  this,  but  I  feel  sure  that  they  know  they  are  wrong 
when  they  deny  it,  for  nothing  but  a  perpetual  miracle  of 
loaves  and  fishes  will  make  polygamy  and  families  of  forty 
possible  when  population  and  food-supply  come  to  talk 
the  position  over  seriously  between  them.  The  expense  of 
plurality  will  before  long  prohibit  plurality. 

"  The  fashionable  milliner  "  is  the  most  formidable  adver- 
sary that  the  system  has  yet  encountered.  A  twenty-dollar 
bonnet  is  a  staggering  argument  against  it  When  women 
were  contented  with  sunshades,  and  made  them  for  them- 
selves, the  husband  of  many  wives  could  afford  to  be 
lavish,  and  to  indulge  his  household  in  a  diversity  of  head- 
gear. But  that  old  serpent,  the  fashionable  milliner,  has 
got  over  the  garden  wall,  and  Lilith1  and  Eve  are  no 
longer  content  with  primitive  garments  of  home  manufac- 
ture. 

No.  Polygamy  will  before  long  be  impossible,  except 
to  the  rich ;  and  in  an  agricultural  community,  restricted  in 
area,  and  further  restricted  by  the  scarcity  of  water,  there 
can  never  be  many  rich  men.  As  it  is,  the  cost  of 
plurality  was  on  several  occasions  referred  to  by  Mormons 
whom  I  met  during  my  tour,  and  I  know  one  man  who  has 
for  three  years  postponed  his  second  marriage,  as  he  does 
not  consider  that  his  means  justify  it ;  while  I  fancy  it  will 
not  be  disputed  by  any  one  who  has  inquired  into  polygamy 
that,  as  a  general  rule,  prudential  considerations  control 
the  system.  Polygamy,  then,  I  sincerely  believe,  carries 

1  By  the  way,  it  is  curious  that  it  should  be  charged  against  the 
Mormons  that  they  have  made  Adam  a  polygamist.  It  is  not  a 
Mormon  invention  at  all.  For,  as  is  well  known,  legends  far  older 
than  Moses'  writings  declare  that  Eve  married  into  plurality,  and 
that  Lilith  was  the  "first  wife"  of  our  great  progenitor. 


Polygamy  and  Plurality.  95 

its  own  antidote  with  it,  and  if  left  alone  will  rapidly  cure 
itself.  In  the  mean  time  the  community  that  practises  it 
does  not  consider  itself  "  degraded,"  and  those  who  take 
part  in  smashing  it  up  must  not  think  it  does. 

The  Mormons  are  a  peasant  people,  with  many  of  the 
faults  of  peasant  life,  but  with  many  of  the  best  human 
virtues  as  well.  They  are  conspicuously  industrious,  honest, 
and.  sober. 

There  is,  of  course,  nothing  whatever  in  common  between 
Oriental  polygamy  and  Mormon  plurality.  The  main  ob- 
ject, and  the  main  result  of  the  two  systems  are  so  widely 
diverse,  that  it  is  hardly  necessary  even  to  refer  to  the 
hundred  other  points  of  difference  which  make  comparison 
between  the  two  utterly  absurd. 

Yet  the  comparison  is  often  made  in  order  to  prove  the 
Mormons  "degraded,"  and  it  is  a  great  pity  that  such 
superficial  and  stupid  arguments  should  be  used  when  far 
more  effective  ones  are  at  hand.  Polygamy,  though  difficult 
to  handle,  is  very  vulnerable.  The  hedgehog,  after  all, 
will  have  to  unroll  some  time  or  another.  But  to  assault 
polygamy  because  the  Mormons  are  "  Turks "  or  "  de- 
bauched Mahometans,"  or  the  other  things  which  silly 
people  call  them,  is  monstrous. 

The  women  have  complicated  the  problem  by  multi- 
plying instances  of  eccentric  "affection."  But  with  it  all 
they  persist  in  believing  that  they  have  retained  a  most 
exalted  estimate  of  womanly  honour.  The  men,  again, 
have  inextricably  entangled  all  recognized  ideas  of  matri- 
monial responsibilities.  Yet  they  have  not  lost  any  of  the 
manliness  which  characterizes  the  pioneers  of  the  West. 

Their  social  anomalies  are  deplorable,  but  they  are  not 
desperate.  Education  and  the  influx  of  outsiders  must  in- 
fallibly do  their  work,  and  any  attempt  to  rob  these  men 


96  Sinners  and  Saints. 

and  women  of  the  fruits  of  their  astonishing  industry  and 
of  the  peaceful  enjoyment  of  the  soil  which  they  have 
conquered  for  the  United  States  from  the  most  warlike 
tribes  among  the  Indians,  and  from  the  most  malignant 
type  of  desert,  is  not  only  not  statesmanship,  but  it  is  not 
humanity. 

Are  the  women  of  Utah  happy  ?  No ;  not  in  the 
monogamous  acceptation  of  the  word  "happy."  In  poly- 
gamy the  highest  happiness  of  woman  is  contentment. 
But  on  the  other  hand  her  greatest  unhappiness  is  only 
discontent.  She  has  not  the  opportunity  on  the  one  hand 
of  rising  to  the  raptures  of  perfect  love.  On  the  other,  she 
is  spared  the  bitter,  killing  anguish  of  "jealousy"  and  of 
infidelity. 

But  contentment  is  not  happiness.  It  is  its  negative, 
and  often  has  its  source  in  mere  resignation  to  sorrow. 
It  is  the  lame  sister  of  happiness,  the  deaf-mute  in  the 
family  of  joy.  It  lives  neither  in  the  background  nor 
foreground  of  enjoyment,  but  always  in  the  middle  distance. 
Tender  in  all  things,  it  never  becomes  real  happiness  by 
concentration ;  having  to  fill  no  deep  heart-pools,  it  trickles 
over  vast  surfaces.  It  goes  through  life  smiling  but  seldom 
laughing.  Now,  in  many  philosophies  we  are  taught  that 
this  same  contentment  is  the  perfect  form  of  happiness. 
But  humanity  is  always  at  war  with  philosophy.  And  I  for 
one  will  never  believe  that  perpetual  placidity  is  the  highest 
experience  of  natures  which  are  capable  of  suffering  the 
raptures  of  joy  and  of  grief.  I  had  rather  live  humanly, 
travelling  alternately  over  sunlit  hills  and  gloomy  valleys, 
than  exist  philosophically  on  the  level  prairies  of  mono- 
tonous contentment.  Holding,  then,  the  opinion  that  it  is 
a  nobler  life  to  have  sounded  the  deeps  and  measured  the 
heights  of  human  emotions  than  to  have  floated  in  shallows 


Mormons  not  Degraded.  97 

continually,  I  contend  that  polygamy  is  wrong  in  itself  and 
a  cardinal  crime  against  the  possibilities  of  a  woman's  heart. 
A  plural  wife  can  never  know  the  utmost  happiness  possible 
for  a  woman.  They  confess  this.  And  by  this  confession 
the  practice  stands  damned. 

Physically,  Mormon  plurality  appears  to  me  to  promise 
much  of  the  success  which  Plato  dreamed  of,  and  Utah 
about  the  best  nursery  for  his  soldiers  that  he  could  have 
found.  Look  at  the  urchins  that  go  clattering  about  the 
roads,  perched  two  together  on  the  bare  backs  of  horses, 
and  only  a  bit  of  rope  by  way  of  bridle.  Look  at  the  rosy, 
demure  little  girls  that  will  be  their  wives  some  day. 
Take  note  of  their  fathers'  daily  lives,  healthy  outdoor 
work.  Go  into  their  homes  and  see  the  mothers  at  their 
work.  For  in  Utah  servants  get  sometimes  as  much  as 
six  dollars  a  week  (and  their  board  and  lodging  as  well  of 
course),  and  most  households  therefore  go  without  this 
expensive  luxury.  And  then  as  you  walk  home  through  one 
of  their  rural  towns  along  the  tree-shaded  streets,  with  water 
purling  along  beside  you  as  you  walk,  and  the  clear  breeze 
from  the  hills  blowing  the  perfume  of  flowers  across  your 
path  in  gusts,  with  the  cottage  homes,  half  smothered  in 
blossoming  fruit-trees,  on  either  hand,  and  a  perpetual 
succession  of  gardens, — then,  I  say,  come  back  and  sit 
down,  if  you  can,  to  call  this  people  "licentious,"  "impure," 
"  degraded." 

The  Mormons  themselves  refuse  to  believe  that  poly- 
gamy is  the  real  objection  against  them,  and  it  will  be  found 
impossible  to  convince  them  that  the  Edmunds  bill  is  really 
what  it  purports  to  be,  a  crusade  against  their  domestic 
arrangements  only.  There  are  some  among  them  who 
thoroughly  understand  the  "  political "  aspect  of  the  case, 
and  are  aware  that  "  the  reorganization  of  Utah  "  would  give 

H 


98  Sinners  and  Saints. 

very  enviable  pickings  to  the  friends  of  the  Commission. 
Others,  have  made  up  their  minds  that  behind  this  generous 
anti-polygamy  sentiment  is  mean  sectarian  envy,  and  that 
this  is  only  one  more  of  those  amiable  efforts  of  narrow  Chris- 
tians to  crush  a  detested  and  flourishing  sect. 

Jealousy,  in  fact,  is  the  Mormons'  explanation  of  the 
Edmunds  bill.  The  Gentiles,  they  say,. are  hankering  after 
the  good  things  of  Utah,  and  hope  by  one  cry  after  another 
to  persecute  the  Mormons  out  of  them.  But  it  is  far  more 
curious  that  the  jealousy  of  their  own  sex  should  be 
suggested  by  Mormon  women  as  the  cause  of  their  partici- 
pation in  the  clamour  against  polygamy.  Yet  so  it  is  ;  the 
Gentile  women  are,  they  say,  "jealous"  of  a  community 
where  every  woman  has  a  husband  !  It  is  a  perplexing 
suggestion,  and  so  thoroughly  reverses  all  rational  course  of 
argument,  that  I  wish  it  had  never  been  seriously  put  for- 
ward. Imagine  the  ladies  of  the  Eastern  States  who  have 
made  themselves  conspicuous  in  this  campaign,  who  have 
fought  and  bled  to  rescue  their  poor  sisters  from  slavery,  to 
free  them  from  the  grasp  of  Mormon  Bluebeards — imagine,  I 
say,  these  ladies  being  told  by  the  sisters  for  whom  they  are 
fighting,  that  they  ought  to  be  ashamed  of  themselves  for 
being  envious  of  the  women  in  polygamy  !  Instead  of  being 
thanked  for  helping  to  strike  the  fetters  of  plurality  off  their 
suffering  sisters,  they  are  met  with  the  retort  that  they  ought 
to  try  being  wives  and  mothers  themselves  before  they  come 
worrying  those  who  have  tried  it  and  are  content !  They 
are  requested  not  to  meddle  with  "  what  they  don't  under- 
stand," and  are  threatened  with  a  counter-crusade  against 
the  polyandry  of  Washington,  New  York,  and  other  cities  ! 
But  even  more  staggering  is  the  fact  that  Mormon  women 
base  their  indignation  against  their  persecuting  saviours  on 
woman's  rights,  the  very  ground  upon  which  those  saviours 
have  based  their  crusade  !  The  advocates  of  woman's  rights 


Women  s  Rights.  99 

are  a  very  strong  party  in  Utah  ;  and  their  publications  use 
the  very  same  arguments  that  strong-minded  women  have 
made  so  terrible  to  newspaper  editors  in  Europe,  and 
members  of  Parliament.  Thus  the  Womaris  Exponent — 
with  "  The  Rights  of  the  Women  of  All  Nations  "  for  its 
motto — publishes  continually  signed  letters  in  which  plural 
wives  affirm  their  contentment  with  their  lot,  and  in  one 
of  its  issues  is  a  leading  article,  headed  "  True  Charity,"  and 
signed  Mary  Ellen  Kimball,  in  which  the  women  of  Mor- 
mondom  are  reminded  that  they  ought  to  pray  for  poor 
benighted  Mr.  Edmunds  and  all  who  think  like  him  !  Then 
follows  a  letter  from  a  Gentile,  addressed  to  "  the  truthful, 
pure -hearted,  intelligent,  Christian  women  "  of  Utah,  and 
after  this  an  article,  "  Hints  on  Marriage,"  signed  "  Lillie 
Freeze."  But  for  a  sentence  or  two  it  might  be  an  article 
by  a  Gentile  in  a  Gentile  "  lady's  paper,"  for  it  speaks  of 
"  courtship  "  and  "  lovers,"  and  has  the  quotation,  "  two  souls 
with  but  a  single  thought,  two  hearts  that  beat  as  one,"  and 
all  the  other  orthodox  pretty  things  about  true  love  and 
married  bliss.  Yet  the  writer  is  speaking  of  polygamy  !  In 
the  middle  of  this  article  written  "  for  love's  sweet  sake," 
and  as  womanly  and  pure  as  ever  words  written  by  woman, 
comes  this  paragraph  : — 

"  In  proportion  as  the  power  of  evil  increases,  a  disregard 
for  the  sacred  institution  of  marriage  also  increases  among 
the  youth,  and  contempt  for  the  marriage  obligation  increases 
among  the  married  until  this  most  sacred  relationship  will 
be  overwhelmed  by  disunion  and  strife,  and  only  among 
the  despised  Latter-Day  Saints  will  the  true  foundation  of 
social  happiness  and  prosperity  be  found  upon  the  earth ; 
but  in  order  to  realize  this  state  we  must  be  guided  by  prin- 
ciples more  perfect  than  those  which  have  wrought  such 
dissolution.  God  has  revealed  a  plan  for  establishing  a  new 
order  of  society  which  will  elevate  and  benefit  all  mankind 

H  2 


ioo  Sinners  and  Saints. 

who  embrace  it.  The  nations  that  fight  against  it  are 
working  out  their  own  destruction,  for  their  house  is  built 
upon  the  sand,  and  one  of  the  corner-stones  in  the  doomed 
structure'  is  already  loosened  through  their  disregard  and 
dishonour  of  the  institution  of  marriage." 

Now  what  is  to  be  done  with  women  who  not  only  declare 
they  are  happy  in  polygamy,  but  persist  in  trying  to  improve 
their  monogamous  sisters  ?  How  is  the  missionary  going 
to  begin,  for  instance,  with  Lillie  Freeze  ? 

If  the  Commission  deals  leniently  with  them,  they  will 
offer  only  a  passive  resistance  to  the  law.  But  if  there  is 
any  appearance  of  outrage,  General  Sherman  may  have  some 
work  to  do.  and  it  will  be  work  more  worthy  of  disciplined 
troops  than  mere  Indian  fighting.  There  would  be  abundance 
of  that  too,  but  the  Mormons  are  themselves  sufficient  to 
test  the  calibre  of  any  troops  in  the  world.  For  they  are 
orderly,  solid  in  their  adherence  to  the  Church,  and  trained 
during  their  youth  and  early  manhood  to  a  rough,  mountain- 
frontier  life.  They  are  in  fact  very  superior  "  Boers,"  and 
Utah  is  a  very  superior  Transvaal,  strategically.  Mormonism 
is  not  the  wind-and-rain  inflated  pumpkin  the  world  at  a 
distance  believes ;  it  is  good  firm  pumpkin  to  the  very  core. 
Nor  are  the  Indians  a  picturesque  fiction.  They  are  an 
ugly  reality,  and  under  proper  guidance  a  very  formidable 
one.  In  the  mean  time  there  is  no  talk  of  war,  and  the 
Sword  of  Laban  is  lying  quietly  in  its  sheath.  For  one 
thing,  the  commission  has  given  no  "  cause  "  for  war ;  for 
another,  the  present  hierarchy  of  the  Church  are  men  of 
peace. 

Such,  then,  as  I  view  it,  is  the  position  in  Utah  at  the 
present  time.  Mormonism  has  taken  up,  in  the  phrase  of 
diplomatic  history,  "an  attitude  of  observation,"  and  the 
future  is  "  in  the  hands  of  the  Lord  God  of  Israel." 


101 


CHAPTER  VII. 

SUA   SI   BONA   N6RINT. 

A  Special  Correspondent's  lot — Hypothecated  wits — The  Daughters 
of  Zion — Their  modest  demeanour — Under  the  banner  of  Woman's 
Rights — The  discoverer  discovered — Turning  the  tables — "By 
Jove,  sir,  you  shall  have  mustard  with  your  beefsteak  !  " 

IT  has  been  my  good  fortune  to  see  many  countries, 
and  my  ill-luck  to  have  had  to  maintain,  during  all  my 
travels,  an  appearance  of  intelligence.  Though  I  have 
been  over  much  of  Europe,  over  all  of  India  and  its 
adjoining  countries,  Afghanistan,  Beloochistan,  Burmah, 
and  Ceylon,  in  the  north  and  west  and  south  of  Africa,  and 
in  various  out-of-the-way  islands  in  miscellaneous  oceans,  I 
have  never  visited  one  of  them  purely  "  for  pleasure."  I 
have  always  been  "  representing  "  other  people.  My  eyes 
and  ears  have  been  hypothecated,  so  to  speak — my  in- 
telligence been  in  pledge.  When  I  was  sent  out  to  watch 
wars,  there  was  a  tacit  agreement  that  I  should  be  shot  at, 
so  that  I  might  let  other  people  know  what  it  felt  like. 
When  run  away  with  by  a  camel  in  a  desert  that  had  no 
"  other  end "  to  it,  I  accepted  my  position  simply  as 
material  for  a  letter  for  which  my  employers  had  duly  paid. 
They  tried  to  drown  me  in  a  mill-stream  ;  that  was  a  good 
half-column.  Two  Afridis  sat  down  by  me  when  I  had 
sprained  my  knee  by  my  horse  falling,  and  waited  for  me 
to  faint  that  they  might  cut  my  throat.  But  they  overdid 


IO2  Sinners  and  Saints. 

it,  for  they  looked  so  like  vultures  that  I  couldn't  faint. 
But  it  made  several  very  harrowing  paragraphs.  I  have 
been  sent  to  sea  to  get  into  cyclones  in  the  Bay  of  Biscay, 
and  hurricanes  in  the  Mozambique  Channel,  that  I  might 
describe  lucidly  the  sea-going  properties  of  the  vessels 
under  test.  I  have  been  sent  to  a  King  to  ask  him  for 
information  that  it  was  known  beforehand  he  would  not 
give,  and  commissioned  to  follow  Irish  agitators  all  over 
Ireland,  in  the  hope  that  I  might  be  able  to  say  more 
about  them  than  they  knew  themselves.  It  has  been  my 
duty  to  walk  about  inquisitively  after  Zulus,  and  to  run 
away  judiciously  with  Zulus  after  me.  Sometimes  I  have 
taken  long  shots  at  Afghans,  and  sometimes  they  have 
taken  short  ones  at  me.  In  short,  I  have  been  deputed 
at  one  time  and  another  to  do  many  things  which  I  should 
never  have  done  "  for  pleasure,"  and  many  which,  for 
pleasure,  I  should  like  to  do  again.  But  wherever  I  have 
been  sent  I  have  had  to  go  about,  seeing  as  much  as  I 
r.ould  and  asking  about  all  I  couldn't  see,  and  have  be- 
come, professionally,  accustomed  to  collecting  evidence, 
sifting  it  on  .the  spot,  and  forming  my  own  conclusions. 
In  a  way,  therefore,  a  Special  Correspondent  becomes  of 
necessity  an  expert  at  getting  at  facts.  He  finds  that 
everything  he  is  commissioned  to  investigate  has  at  least 
two  sides  to  it,  and  that  many  things  have  two  right  sides. 
There  are  plenty  of  people  always  willing  to  mislead  him, 
and  he  has  to  pick  and  choose.  He  arrives  unprejudiced, 
and  speaks  according  to  the  knowledge  he  acquires. 
Sometimes  he  is  brought  up  to  the  hill  with  a  definite 
commission  to  curse,  but  like  Balaam,  the  son  of  Barak, 
he  begins  blessing;  or  he  is  sent  out  to  bless,  and  falls  to 
cursing.  Until  he  arrives  on  the  spot  it  is  impossible  for 
him  to  say  which  he  will  do.  But,  whatever  he  does ,  the 


The  Daughters  of  Zion.  103 

Special  Correspondent  writes  with  the  responsibility  of  a 
large  public.  It  is  impossible  to  write  flippantly  with 
all  the  world  for  critics. 

Now,  the  demeanour  of  women  in  Utah,  as  compared 
with  say  Brighton  or  Washington,  is  modesty  itself,  and  the 
children  are  just  such  healthy,  pretty,  vigorous  children  as 
one  sees  in  the  country,  or  by  the  seaside  in  England — 
and,  in  my  opinion,  nowhere  else.  Utah-born  girls,  the 
offspring  of  plural  wives,  have  figures  that  would  make 
Paris  envious,  and  they  carry  themselves  with  almost 
Oriental  dignity.  But  remember,  Salt  Lake  City  is  a  city 
of  rustics.  They  do  not  affect  "  gentility,"  and  are  careful 
to  explain  at  every  opportunity  that  the  stranger  must  not 
be  shocked  at  their  homely  ways  and  speech.  There  is  an 
easiness  of  manner  therefore  which  is  unconventional,  but 
it  is  only  a  blockhead  who  could  mistake  this  natural 
gaiety  of  the  country  for  anything  other  than  it  is.  There 
is  nothing,  then,  so  far  as  I  have  seen,  in  the  manners  of 
Salt  Lake  City  to  make  me  suspect  the  existence  of  that 
"  licentiousness  "  of  which  so  much  has  been  written ;  but 
there  is  a  great  deal  on  the  contrary  to  convince  me  of  a 
perfectly  exceptional  reserve  and  self-respect.  I  know,  too, 
from  medical  assurance,  that  Utah  has  also  the  practical 
argument  of  healthy  nurseries  to  oppose  to  the  theories  of 
those  who  attack  its  domestic  relations  on  physiological 
grounds. 

But  the  "  Woman's  Rights  "  aspect  of  polygamy  is  one  that 
has  never  been  theorized  on  at  all.  It  deseryes,  however, 
special  consideration  by  those  who  think  that  they  are 
"  elevating "  Mormon  women  by  trying  to  suppress  poly- 
gamy. It  possesses  also  a  general  interest  for  all.  For 
the  plural  wives  of  Salt  Lake  City  are  not  by  any  means 
"waiting  for  salvation"  at  the  hands  of  the  men  and 


IO4  Sinners  and  Saints. 

women  of  the  East.  Unconscious  of  having  fetters  on, 
they  evince  no  enthusiasm  for  their  noisy  deliverers. 

On  the  contrary,  they  consider  their  interference  as  a 
slur  upon  their  own  intelligence,  and  an  encroachment  upon 
those  very  rights  about  which  monogamist  females  are 
making  so  much  clamour.  They  look  upon  themselves  as 
the  leaders  in  the  movement  for  the  emancipation  of  their 
sex,  and  how,  then,  can  they  be  expected  to  accept  eman- 
cipation at  the  hands  of  those  whom  they  are  trying  to 
elevate  ?  Thinking  themselves  in  the  van  of  freedom,  are 
they  to  be  grateful  for  the  guidance  of  stragglers  in  the 
rear?  They  laugh  at  such  sympathy,  just  as  the  brave 
man  might  laugh  at  encouragement  from  a  coward,  or 
wealthy  landowners  at  a  pauper's  exposition  of  the  re- 
sponsibilities of  property.  Can  the  deaf,  they  ask,  tell 
musicians  anything  of  the  beauty  of  sounds,  or  need  the 
artist  care  for  the  blind  man's  theory  of  colour  ? 

Indeed,  it  has  been  in  contemplation  to  evangelize  the 
Eastern  States,  on  this  very  subject  of  Woman's  Rights  ! 
To  send  out  from  Utah  exponents  of  the  proper  place  of 
woman  in  society,. and  to  teach  the  women  of  monogamy 
their  duties  to  themselves  and  to  each  other  !  ''Woman's 
true  status  " — I  am  quoting  from  their  organ — "  is  that  of 
companion  to  man,  but  so  protected  by  law  that  she  can 
act  in  an  independent  sphere  if  he  abuse  his  position,  and 
render  union  unendurable."  They  not  only,  therefore, 
claim  all  that  women  elsewhere  claim,  but  they  consider 
marriage  the. universal  birthright  of  every  female.  First  of 
all,  they  say,  be  married,  and  then  in  case  of  accidents 
have  all  other  "  rights  "  as  well.  But  to  start  with,  every 
woman  must  have  a  husband.  She  is  hardly  worth  calling 
a  woman  if  she  is  single.  Other  privileges  ought  to  be 
hers  lest  marriage  should  prove  disastrous.  But  in  the  first 


Discovering  the  Discoverer.  105 

instance  she  should  claim  her  right  to  be  a  wife.  And 
everybody  else  should  insist  on  that  claim  being  recognized. 
The  rest  is  very  important  to  fall  back  upon,  but  union 
with  man  is  her  first  step  towards  her  proper  sphere. 

Now,  could  any  position  be  imagined  more  ludicrous 
for  the  would-be  saviours  of  Utah  womanhood  than  this, 
that  the  slaves  whom  they  talk  of  rescuing  from  their 
degradation  should  be  striving  to  bring  others  up  to  their 
own  standard  ?  When  Stanley  was  in  Central  Africa,  he 
was  often  amused  and  sometimes  not  a  little  disgusted  to 
find  that  instead  of  his  discovering  the  Central  Africans, 
the  Central  Africans  insisted  on  "discovering"  him. 
Though  he  went  into  villages  in  order  to  take  notes  of  the 
savages,  and  to  look  at  their  belongings,  the  savages  used 
to  turn  the  tables  on  him  by  discussing  him,  and  taking 
his  clothes  off  to  examine  the  curious  colour,  as  they  thought 
it,  of  his  skin.  So  that  what  with  shaking  off- his  explorers, 
and  hunting  up  the  various  articles  they  had  abstracted 
for  their  unscientific  scrutiny,  his  time  used  to  be  thoroughly 
wasted,  and  he  used  to  come  away  crestfallen,  and  with  the 
humiliating  consciousness  that  it  was  the  savages  and  not 
he  that  had  gained  information  and  been  "  improved  "  by 
his  visit.  They  had  "  discovered "  Stanley,  not  Stanley 
them.  Something  very  like  this  will  be  the  fate  of  those 
who  come  to  Utah  thinking  that  they  will  be  received  as 
shining  lights  from  a  better  world.  They  will  not  find  the 
women  of  Utah  waiting  with  outstretched  arms  to  grasp 
the  hand  that  saves  them.  There  will  be  no  stampede  of 
down-trodden  females.  On  the  contrary,  the  clarion  of 
woman's  rights  will  be  sounded,  and  the  intruding  "  cham- 
pions "  of  that  cause  will  find  themselves  attacked  with 
their  own  weapons,  and  hoisted  with  their  own  petards. 
"  With  the  sceptre  of, woman's  rights  the  daughters  of  Zion 


ic6  Sinners  and  Saints. 

will  go  down  as  apostles  to  evangelize  the  nation.  '  Who 
is  she  that  looketh  forth  as  the  morning,  fair  as  the  moon, 
clear  as  the  sun,  and  terrible  as  an  army  with  banners  ? ' 
The  Daughter  of  Zion  ! " 

Mormon  wives,  then,  are  emphatically  "  woman's-rights 
women,"  a  title  which  is  everywhere  recognized  as  indicat- 
ing independence  of  character  and  an  elevated  sense  of  the 
claims  of  the  sex,  and  as  inferring  exceptional  freedom  in 
action.  And  I  venture  to  hold  the  opinion  that  it  is  only 
women  who  are  conscious  of  freedom  that  can  institute  such 
movements  as  this  in  Utah,  and  only  those  who  are  enthusi- 
astic in  the  cause,  that  can  carry  them  on  with  the  courage 
and  industry  so  conspicuous  in  this  community. 

A  Governor  once  went  there  specially  instructed  to  release 
the  women  of  Utah  from  their  bondage,  but  he  found  none 
willing  to  be  released  !  The  franchise  was  then  clamoured 
for  in  order  to  let  the  women  of  Utah  "  fight  their  oppressors 
at  the  polls,"  and  the  Mormon  "tyrants"  took  the  hint  to 
give  their  wives  votes,  and  the  first  use  these  misguided 
victims  of  plurality  made  of  their  new  possession  was  to 
protest,  20,000  victims  together,  against  the  calumnies 
heaped  upon  the  men  of  Utah  "whom  they  honoured 
and  loved."  To-day  it  is  an  act  of  Congress  that  is  to  set 
free  these  worse-than-Indian-suttee-devotees,  and  whether 
they  like  it  or  not  they  are  to  be  compelled  to  leave  their 
husbands  or  take  the  alternative  of  sending  their  husbands 
to  jail. 

It  reminds  me  of  the  story,  "  Sir,  you  shall  have  mus- 
tard with  your  beefsteak."  A  man  sitting  in  a  restaurant 
saw  his  neighbour  eating  his  steak  without  mustard,  and 
pushed  the  pot  across  to  him.  The  stranger  bowed  his 
acknowledgment  of  the  courtesy  and  went  on  eating,  but 
without  any  mustard.  But  the  other  man's  sense  of 


Sua  si  bona  norint.  107 

propriety  was  outraged.  "Beefsteak  without  mustard  — 
monstrous,"  said  he  to  himself;  and  again  he  pushed  the 
condiment  towards  the  stranger.  "Thank  you,  sir,"  said 
the  stranger,  but  without  taking  any,  continued  his  meal  as 
he  preferred  it,  without  mustard.  But  his  well-wisher  could 
not  stand  it  any  longer.  He  waited  for  a  minute  to  see  if  the 
man  would  eat  his  beef  in  the  orthodox  manner,  and  then, 
his  sense  of  the  fitness  of  things  overpowering  him,  he 
seized  the  mustard-pot  and  dabbing  down  a  great  splash  of 
mustard  on  to  the  stranger's  plate,  burst  out  with,  "  By  Jove, 
sir,  you  shall  have  mustard  with  your  beefsteak  !  " 

In  the  same  way  the  monogamist  reformers,  having  twice 
failed  to  persuade  the  wives  of  Utah  to  abandon  their 
husbands  by  giving  them  facilities  for  doing  so,  are  now 
going  to  take  their  husbands  from  them  by  the  force  of  the 
law.  "  Sua  si  bona  norint "  is  the  excuse  of  the  reformers 
to  themselves  for  their  philanthropy,  and,  like  the  old 
Inquisitors  who  burnt  their  victims  to  save  them  from 
heresy,  they  are  going  to  make  women  wretched  in  order 
to  make  them  happy.  Says  the  Woman's  Exponent :  "  If 
the  women  of  Utah  are  slaves,  their  bonds  are  loving  ones 
and  dearly  prized.  They  are  to-day  in  the  free  and  un- 
restricted exercise  of  more  political  and  social  rights  than 
are  the  women  of  any  other  part  of  these  United  States. 
But  they  do  not  choose  as  a  body  to  court  the  follies  and 
vices  which  adorn  the  civilization  of  other  cities,  nor  to 
barter  principles  of  tried  worth  for  the  tinsel  of  senti- 
mentality or  the  gratification  of  passion." 

It  is  of  no  use  for  "  Mormon-eaters  "  to  say  that  this  is 
written  "  under  direction,"  and  that  the  women  who  write 
in  this  way  are  prompted  by  authority.  Nor  would 
they  say  it  if  they  knew  personally  the  women  who  write 
thus. 


io8  Sinners  and  Saints. 

Moreover,  Mormon-eaters  are  perpetually  denouncing  the 
"scandalous  freedom  "  and  "independence"  extended  to 
Mormon  women  and  girls.  And  the  two  charges  of  excessive 
freedom  and  abject  slavery  seem  to  me  totally  incompatible. 

I  myself  as  a  traveller  can  vouch  for  this  :  that  one  of  my 
first  impressions  of  Salt  Lake  City  was  this,  that  there  was 
a  thoroughly  unconventional  absence  of  restraint ;  just  such 
freedom  as  one  is  familiar  with  in  country  neighbourhoods, 
where  "  every  one  knows  every  one  else,"  and  where  the 
formalities  of  town  etiquette  are  by  general  consent  laid 
aside.  And  this  also  I  can  sincerely  say  :  that  I  never 
ceased  to  be  struck  by  the  modest  decorum  of  the  women 
I  meet  out  of  doors.  After  all,  self-respect  is  the  true  basis 
of  woman's  rights. 

This  aspect  of  the  polygamy  problem  deserves,  then,  I 
think,  considerable  attention.  An  Act  has  been  passed  to 
compel  some  20,000  women  to  leave  their  husbands,  and 
the  world  looks  upon  these  women  as  slaves  about  to  be 
freed  from  tyrants.  Yet  they  have  said  and  done  all  that 
could  possibly  be  expected  of  them,  and  even  more  than 
could  have  been  expected,  to  assure  the  world  that  they 
have  neither  need  nor  desire  for  emancipation,  as  they 
honour  their  husbands,  and  prefer  polygamy,  with  all  its 
conditions,  to  the  monogamy  which  brings  with  it  infidelity 
at  home  and  prostitution  abroad.  Again  and  again  they 
have  protested,  in  petitions  to  individuals  and  petitions  to 
Congress,  that  "their  bonds  are  loving  ones  and  dearly 
prized."  But  the  enthusiasm  of  reformers  takes  no  heed  of 
their  protests.  They  are  constantly  declaring  in  public 
speeches  and  by  public  votes,  in  books  and  in  newspapers 
— above  all,  in  their  daily  conduct— that  they  consider  them- 
selves free  and  happy  women,  but  the  zeal  of  philanthropy 
will  not  be  gainsaid,  and  so  the  women  of  Utah  are,  all  else 


Saved  from  Themselves.  109 

failing,  to  be  saved  from  themselves.  The  "foul  blot" 
of  a  servitude  which  the  serfs  aver  does  not  exist  is  to  be 
wiped  out  by  declaring  20,000  wives  mistresses,  their 
households  illegal,  and  their  future  children  bastards  ! 

"  By  Jove,  sir,  you  shall  have  mustard  with  your  beef- 
steak!" 


no  Sinners  and  Saints. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

COULD   THE   MORMONS    FIGHT? 

An  unfulfilled  prophecy  —  Had  Brigham  Young  been  still  alive  ? — 
The  hierarchy  of  Mormonism — The  fighting  Apostle  and  his 
colleagues — Plurality  a  revelation — Rajpoot  infanticide  :  how  it 
was  stamped  out — Would  the  Mormons  submit  to  the  same  pro- 
cess ? — Their  fighting  capabilities  —  Boer  and  Mormon :  an 
analogy  between  the  Drakensberg  and  the  Wasatch  ranges — 
The  Puritan  fanaticism  of  the  Saints — Awaiting  the  fulness  of  time 
and  of  prophecy. 

"I  SAY,  as  the  Lord  lives,  we  are  bound  to  become  a 
sovereign  State  in  the  Union  or  an  independent  nation 
by  ourselves.  I  am  still,  and  still  will  be  Governor  of 
this  Territory,  to  the  constant  chagrin  of  my  enemies,  and 
twenty-six  years  shall  not  pass  away  before  the  Elders  of 
this  Church  will  be  as  much  thought  of  as  kings  on  their 
thrones."  These  were  the  words  of  Brigham  Young  on  the 
last  day  of  August,  1856.  And  the  Bill  was  passed  in  1882. 

Had  Brigham  Young  been  alive  then,  that  prophecy 
would  assuredly  have  been  fulfilled,  for  the  coincidence  of 
recent  legislation  with  the  date  he  fixed,  would  have  suf- 
ficed to  convince  him  that  the  opportunity  for  a  display  of 
the  temporal  power  of  his  Church  which  he  had  foretold, 
had  arrived.  Once  before  with  similar  exactness  Brigham 
Young  fixed  a  momentous  date. 

He  was  standing  in  1847  upo°  the  site  of  the  Temple, 
when  suddenly,  as  if  under  a  momentary  impulse,  he  turned 


"No  Odds!"  in 


to  those  who  were  with  him  and  said,  "  And  now,  if  they 
will  only  let  us  alone  for  ten  years,  we  will  not  ask  them 
for  any  odds." 

Exactly  ten  years  later,  to  the  very  day,  and  almost  to 
the  very  hour  of  the  day,  the  news  came  of  the  despatch  of 
a  Federal  army  against  Salt  Lake  City.  Brigham  Young 
called  his  people  together — and  what  a  nation  they  were 
compared  to  the  fugitive  crowd  that  had  stood  round  him 
in  1847  ! — and  simply  reminding  them  of  his  words  uttered 
ten  years  before,  waited  for  their  response.  And  as  if  they 
had  only  one  voice  among  them  all,  the  vast  assemblage 
shouted,  "No  odds? 

And  then  and  there  he  sent  them  into  Echo  Canon — 
and  the  Federal  army  knows  the  rest. 

Had  he  been  alive  to-day,  that  scene  would  probably 
have  been  repeated. 

But  Brigham  Young  is  not  alive.  And  his  mantle  has 
not  fallen  upon  any  of  the  Elders  of  the  Church.  They 
are  men  of  caution,  and  the  policy  of  Mormonism  to-day  is 
to  temporize  and  to  wait.  All  the  States  are  "  United  "  in 
earnest  against  them.  Brigham  Young  always  taught  the 
people  to  reverence  prophecy,  but  he  taught  them  also  to 
help  to  fulfil  it.  But  nowadays  Mormons  are  told  to  stand 
by  and  see  how  the  Lord  will  work  for  them.  And  thus 
waiting,  the  Gentiles  are  gradually  creeping  up  to  them. 
Every  year  sees  new  influences  at  work  to  destroy  the 
isolation  of  the  Church,  but  the  leaders  originate  no  coun- 
teracting influences.  Their  defences  are  being  sapped,  but 
no  counter- mines  are  run.  As  Gentile  vigour  grows  ag- 
gressive, Mormonism  seems  to  be  contracting  its  frontiers. 
There  is  no  Buonaparte  mind  to  compel  obedience.  Ma- 
homet is  dead,  and  Ali,  "the  Lion  of  Allah,"  is  dead, 
and  the  Caliphate  is  now  in  commission. 


H2  Sinners  and  Saints. 

President  Taylor  is  a  self-reliant  and  courageous  man, 
but  for  a  ruler  he  listens  too  much  to  counsel.  Though 
not  afraid  of  responsibility,  it  does  not  sit  upon  him  as  one 
born  to  the  ermine.  Brigham  Young  was  a  natural  king. 
President  Taylor  only  suffices  for  an  interregnum.  Yet 
now,  if  ever,  Mormonism  needs  a  master-spirit  Nothing 
demoralizes  like  inaction.  Men  begin  to  look  at  things 
"  from  both  sides,"  to  compromise  with  convictions,  to 
discredit  enthusiasm.  This  is  just  what  they  are  doing 
now.  At  one  of  the  most  eventful  points  of  their  history, 
they  find  the  voices  of  the  Tabernacle  giving  forth  uncertain 
sounds.  Their  Urim  and  Thummim  is  dim ;  the  She- 
kinah  is  flickering  ;  their  oracles  stutter.  They  are  told  to 
obey  the  laws  and  yet  to  live  their  religion.  In  other 
words,  to  eat  their  cake  and  have  it ;  to  let  go  and  hold 
tight —anything  that  is  contradictory,  irreconcilable,  and 
impossible. 

Meanwhile,  wealth  and  interests  in  outside  schemes  have 
raised  up  in  the  Church  a  body  of  men  of  considerable  temporal 
influence,  who  it  is  generally  supposed  "  outside  "  are  half- 
hearted. The  Gentiles  lay  great  stress  on  this.  But  no  one 
should  be  deceived  as  to  the  real  importance  of  this  "  half- 
heartedness."  In  the  first  place,  a  single  word  from  President 
Taylor  would  extinguish  the  influence  of  these  men  politi- 
cally and  religously,  at  once  and  for  ever.  A  single  speech 
in  the  Tabernacle  would  reduce  them  to  mere  ciphers  in 
Mormonism,  and  the  Church  would  really,  therefore,  lose 
nothing  more  by  their  defection  than  the  men  themselves.  But 
as  a  matter  of  fact  they  are  not  half-hearted.  I  know  the 
men  whom  the  outside  world  refers  to  personally,  and  I  am 
certain  therefore  of  my  ground  when  I  say  that  Mormonism 
will  find  them,  in  any  hour  of  need,  ready  to  throw  all  their 
temporal  influence  on  to  the  side  of  the  Church.  The 


The  Hierarchy  of  Utah.  \  1 3 

people  need  not  be  apprehensive,  for  there  is  no  treason  in 
their  camp.      There  may  be  "Trimmers,"  but  was  there 
ever  a  movement  that  had  no  Trimmers  ? 
The  hierarchy  in  Utah  stands  as  follows  : — 
President — John  Taylor.       Counsellors  to  the  President — 
Joseph  F.  Smith,  G.  Q.  Cannon.     Apostles— Wilford  Wood- 
ruff, Franklin  Richards,  C.  C.  Rich,  Brigham  Young,  Moses 
Thatcher,  M.  Lyman,  J.  H.  Smith,  A.  Carringtori,  Erastus 
Snow,  Lorenzo  Snow,  S.  P.  Teasdel,  and  J.  Grant.      Coun- 
sellors to  the  Apostles— John  W.  Young,  D.  H.  Wells. 

Now  in  the  present  critical  situation  of  affairs'  the  per- 
sonnel of  this  governing  body  is  of  some  interest.  President 
Taylor  I  have  already  spoken  of.  He  is  considered  by  all 
as  a  good  head  during  an  uneventful  period,  and  that  he  is 
doing  sound,  practical  work  in  a  general  administrative  way  is 
beyond  doubt.  But  it  is  his  misfortune  to  come  immediately 
after  Brigham  Young.  It  is  not  often  in  history  that  an 
Aunmgzebe  follows  an  Akbar.  But  his  counsellors,  Apos- 
tles Cannon  and  Joseph  Smith,  are  emphatically  strong  men. 
The  former  is  a  staunch  Mormon,  and  a  man  of  the  world 
as  well— perhaps  the  only  Mormon  who  is  —while  the  latter 
is  "  the  fighting  Apostle,"  a  man  of  both  brains  and  courage. 
Had  he  been  ten  years  older  he  would  probably  have  been 
President  now.  Of  the  remainder  the  men  of  conspicuous 
mark  are  Moses  Thatcher,  an  admirable  speaker  and  an 
able  man,  Merion  Lyman,  a  very  sound  thinker  and  spirited 
in  counsel,  and  D.  H.  Wells—perhaps  the  "strongest"  unit 
in  the  whole  hierarchy.  He  has  made  as  much  history  as 
any  man  in  the  Church,  and  as  one  of  its  best  soldiers  and 
one  of  its  shrewdest  heads  might  have  been  expected  to 
hold  a  higher  rank  than  he  does.  He  was  one  of  the 
Counsellors  of  Brigham  Young,  but  on  the  reconstruction 
of  the  governing  body,  accepted  the  position  of  Counsellor 


114  Sinners  and  Saints. 

to  the  Twelve.  These  five  men,  should  the  contingency 
for  any  decisive  policy  arise,  will  certainly  lead  the  Mor- 
mon Church. 

I  was  speaking  one  day  to  a  Mormon,  a  husband  of 
several  wives,  and  was  candidly  explaining  my  aversion  to 
that  co-operative  system  of  matrimony  which  the  world  calls 
"  polygamy,"  but  which  the  Saints  prefer  should  be  called 
"plurality."  When  I  had  finished,  much  to  my  own  satis- 
faction (for  I  thought  I  had  proved  polygamy  wrong),  my 
companion  knocked  all  my  arguments,  premises  and  con- 
clusion together,  into  a  cocked  hat,  by  saying,  — 

"You  are  unprejudiced — I  grant  that;  and  you  take 
higher  ground  for  your  condemnation  of  us  than  most  do. 
But,"  said  he,  "  you  have  never  referred  to  the  fact  that  we 
Mormons  believe  plurality  to  be  a  revelation  from  God. 
But  we  do  believe  it,  and  until  that  belief  is  overthrown 
angels  from  Heaven  cannot  convince  us.  You  spoke  of  the 
power  and  authority  of  the  United  States.  But  what  is  that 
to  the  power  and  authority  of  God  ?  The  United  States 
cannot  do  more  than  exterminate  us  for  not  abandoning 
plurality.  But  God  can,  and  will,  damn  us  to  all  eternity 
if  we  do  abandon  it." 

Now  what  argument  but  force  can  avail  against  such  an 
attitude  as  this  ?  The  better  the  Mormon,  the  harder  he 
freezes  to  his  religion —  and  part  of  his  religion  is  polygamy 
— so  important  a  part,  indeed,  that  the  whole  future  of  the 
Saints  is  based  upon  it.  The  "  Kingdom  of  God  "  is  ar- 
ranged with  reference  to  it.  The  hopes  of  Mormons  of  glory 
and  happiness  in  eternity  depend  upon  it,  and  in  this  life 
men  and  women  are  perpetually  exhorted  to  live  up  to  it. 
It  is  pure  nonsense  therefore — so  at  least  it  seems  to  me — 
to  request  the  Mormons  to  give  up  plurality,  and  keep  the 
rest.  You  might  just  as  well  cut  off  all  a  man's  limbs,  and 


How  Hindoo  Infanticide  was  crushed.     115 

then  tell  him  to  get  along  "like  a  good  and  loyal  citizen," 
with  only  a  stomach. 

Force  of  course  will  avail,  in  the  end,  just  as  it  did  in 
India  when  the  Government  determined  to  stamp  out  female 
infanticide  among  the  Rajpoots.  There,  the  procedure  was 
from  necessity  inquisitorial  (for  the  natives  of  the  proscribed 
districts  combined  to  prevent  detection),  but  it  was  eventually 
effectual.  It  was  simply  this.  Whenever  a  family  was  sus- 
pected of  killing  its  female  infants,  a  special  staff  of  police 
was  quartered  upon  the  village  in  which  that  family  lived, 
at  the  expense  of  the  village,  and  maintained  a  constant  per- 
sonal watch  over  each  of  the  suspected  wives  during  the 
period  immediately  preceding  childbirth.  Nothing  could 
have  been  so  offensive  to  native  sentiment  as  such  procedure, 
but  nothing  else  was  of  any  use.  In  the  end  the  suspects 
got  wearied  of  the  perpetual  tyranny  of  supervision,  and 
their  neighbours  wearied  of  paying  for  the  police,  and  in- 
fanticide as  a  crime  common  to  a  whole  community  ceased 
after  a  few  years  to  exist  in  India.  Now  if  the  worst  came 
to  the  worst,  something  of  the  same  kind  is  within  the 
resources  of  the  United  States.  Every  polygamous  family 
in  the  Territory  might  be  brought  under  direct  police  super- 
vision at  the  cost  of  their  neighbours,  and  punishment 
rigidly  follow  every  conviction.  This  would  stamp  out 
polygamy  in  time. 

But  it  would  be  a  long  time,  a  very  long  time,  and  I 
would  hesitate  to  affirm  that  Mormon  endurance  and  sub- 
mission would  be  equal  to  such  a  severe  and  such  a  pro- 
tracted ordeal.  There  is  nothing  in  their  past  history  that 
leads  me  to  look  upon  them  as  a  people  exceptionally 
tolerant  of  ill-usage. 

The  infanticidal  families  in  India  were,  it  is  true,  of  a 
fighting  caste  and  clan,  but  the  suspected  families  were 

I  2 


1 1 6  Sinners  and  Saints. 

only  a  few  hundreds  in  number.  They  could  not,  like  the 
Mormons,  rely  upon  a  strength  of  twenty-five  thousand 
adult  males,  an  admirable  strategic  position,  and  the  help,  if 
necessary,  of  twenty  thousand  picked  "  warriors  "  from  the 
surrounding  Indian  tribes  ;  and  it  is  mere  waste  of  words  to 
say  that  the  consciousness  of  strength  has  often  got  a  great 
deal  to  do  with  influencing  the  action  of  men  who  are 
subjected  to  violence.  And  I  doubt  myself,  looking  to  the 
recent  history  of  England  in  Africa,  and  Russia  in  Central 
Asia,  whether  the  United  States,  when  they  come  to  consider 
Mormon  potentialities  for  resistance,  will  think  it  worth 
while  to  resort  to  violence  in  vindication  of  a  sentiment. 
The  war  between  the  North  and  the  South  is  not  a  case  in 
point  at  all.  There  was  more  than  a  mere  if  sentiment " 
went  to  the  bringing  on  of  that  war.  Remember,  I  do  not 
say  that  the  Mormons  entertain  the  idea  of  having  to  fight 
the  United  States.  I  only  say  that  they  would  not  be  afraid 
to  do  it,  in  defence  of  their  religion,  if  circumstances  com- 
pelled it.  And  I  am  only  arguing  from  nature  when  I  say 
that  those  "circumstances"  arrive  at  very  different  stages  of 
suffering  with  different  individuals.  The  worm,  for  instance, 
does  not  turn  till  it  is  trodden  on.  The  grizzly  bear  turns  if 
you  sneeze  at  it.  And  I  am  only  quoting  history  when  I 
say  that  thirty  thousand  determined  men,  well  armed,  with 
their  base  of  military  supplies  at  their  backs,  could  defend 
a  position  of  great  strategical  strength  for — well,  a  very  con- 
siderable time  against  an  army  only  ten  times  as  numerous 
as  themselves — especially  if  that  army  had  to  defend  a 
thousand  miles  of  communications  against  unlimited 
Indians. 

It  was  my  privilege  when  on  the  editorial  staff  of  the 
Daily  Telegraph  in  London  to  tell  the  country  in  the  leading 
columns  of  that  paper  what  I  thought  of  the  chances  of 


Boers  and  Mormons  ;  a  Parallel.       117 

success  against  the  Boers  of  the  Transvaal.  I  said  that  one 
Boer  on  his  own  mountains  was  worth  five  British  soldiers, 
and  that  any  army  that  went  against  those  fanatical  puritans 
with  less  than  ten  to  one  in  numbers,  would  find  "the 
sword  of  the  Lord  and  of  Gideon  "  too  strong  for  them,  and 
the  Drakensberg  range  an  impregnable  frontier.  As  an 
Englishman  I  regret  that  my  words  were  so  miserably  ful- 
filled, and  England,  after  sacrificing  a  great  number  of  men 
and  officers,  decided  that  it  was  not  worth  while  "  for  a 
sentiment "  to  continue  the  war. 

The  points  of  resemblance  between  the  Mormons  and  the 
Boers  are  rather  curious. 

The  Boers  of  the  Transvaal,  though  of  the  same 
stock  as  the  great  majority  of  the  inhabitants  of  British 
Africa,  were  averse  to  the  forms  of  government  that  had 
satisfied  the  rest  So  they  migrated,  after  some  popular 
disturbances,  and  settled  in  another  district  where  they 
hoped  to  enjoy  the  imperium  in  imperio  on  which  they  had 
set  their  longings.  But  British  colonies  again  came  up  with 
them,  and  after  a  fight  with  the  troops,  the  Boers  again 
migrated,  and  with  their  long  caravans  of  ox  and  mule  wag- 
gons "  trekked  "  away  to  the  farthest  inhabitable  corner  of 
the  continent.  Here  for  a  considerable  time  they  enjoyed 
the  life  they  had  sought  for,  established  a  capital,  had  their 
own  governor,  whipped  or  coaxed  the  surrounding  native 
tribes  into  docility,  and,  after  a  fashion,  throve.  But  yet  once 
more  the  "  thin  red  line  "  of  British  possession  crept  up  to 
them,  and  the  Boers,  being  now  at  bay,  and  having  nowhere 
else  to  "trek  "  to,  fought. 

They  were  not  exactly  trained  soldiers,  but  merely  a  ter- 
ritorial militia,  accustomed,  however,  to  warfare  with  native 
tribes,  and,  by  the  constant  use  of  the  rifle  in  hunting  game, 
capital  marksmen.  So  they  declared  war  against  Great 


1 1 8  Sinners  and  Saints. 

Britain,  these  three  or  four  thousand  Boers,  and  having 
worked  themselves  up  into  the  belief  that  they  were  fighting 
for  their  religion,  they  unsheathed  "  the  sword  of  the  Lord 
and  of  Gideon,"  threatened  to  call  in  the  natives,  and  holding 
their  mountain  passes,  defied  the  British  troops  to  force 
them.  Nor  without  success.  For  every  time  the  troops  went 
at  them,  they  beat  them,  giving  chapter  and  verse  out  of 
the  Bible  for  each  whipping,  and  eventually  concluded  their 
extraordinary  military  operations  by  an  honourable  peace, 
and  a  long  proclamation  of  pious  thanksgiving  "to  the  Lord 
God  omnipotent."  To-day,  therefore,  Queen  Victoria  is 
"  suzerain  "  of  the  Transvaal,  and  the  Boers  govern  them- 
selves by  a  territorial  government.  To  their  neighbours 
they  are  known  as  very  pious,  simple,  and  stubborn  people  ; 
very  shrewd  in  making  a  bargain ;  very  honest  when  it  is 
made ;  a  pastoral  and  agricultural  community,  with  strong 
objections  to  "  Gentiles,"  who,  by  the  way,  are  never  tired 
of  reviling  them,  especially  with  regard  to  alleged  eccentri- 
cities in  domestic  relations. 

Am  I  not  right,  then,  in  saying  that  the  resemblance 
between  the  Boers  and  the  Mormons  is  "  curious  "  ? 

When  I  speak  of  the  Mormons  as  being  prepared  to 
accept  the  worst  that  the  commission  under  the  Edmunds 
bill  may  do,  it  should  be  understood  that  this  readiness  to 
suffer  does  not  arise  from  any  misconception  of  their  own 
strength.  The  Mormons  are  thoroughly  aware  of  it ;  in- 
deed, the  figures  which  I  have  given  (25,000  adult  males 
and  20,000  Indians)  are  not  accepted  by  all  of  them  as 
representing  their  full  numbers.  They  fully  understand 
also  the  capabilities  of  their  position  for  defence,  and  are 
not  backward  to  appreciate  the  advantages  which  the  length 
of  the  Federal  communications  would  give  them  for  pro- 
tracting a  campaign. 


The  Children  of  Ephraim  waiting.      1 1 9 

Under  the  circumstances,  therefore,  the  argument  of  a 
leading  Mormon,  that  "if  the  United  States  really  believe 
the  people  of  Utah  to  be  the  desperate  fanatics  they  call 
them,  any  action  on  their  part  that  tends  to  exasperate 
such  fanatics  is  foolhardy,"  may  be  accepted  as  quite 
seriously  meant.  For  the  Mormons,  if  bigoted  about  any- 
thing at  all,  are  so  on  this  point — that  they  cannot  be  crushed. 
As  the  elect  of  God,  specially  appointed  by  Him  to  prepare 
places  of  worship  and  keep  up  the  fires  of  a  religion  which 
is  very  soon  to  consume  all  others,  they  cannot,  they  say, 
be  moved  until  the  final  fulfilment  of  prophecy.  The  Jews 
have  still  to  be  gathered  together,  and  "  the  nations  from 
the  north  country  "  whose  coming,  according  to  the  Bible, 
is  to  be  so  terrible,  are  to  find  the  Mormons,  "  the  children 
of  Ephraim,"  ready  prepared  with  such  rites  and  such 
tabernacles  that  the  "  sons  of  Levi,"  the  Jews,  can  perform 
their  old  worship,  and,  thus  refreshed,  continue  their  pro- 
gress to  the  Holy  Land.  "  And  their  prophets  shall  come 
in  remembrance  before  the  Lord,  and  they  shall  smite  the 
rocks,  and  the  ice  sha.ll  flow  down  at  their  presence,  and  a 
highway  shall  be  cast  up  in  the  midst  of  the  great  deep. 
And  they  shall  come  forth,  and  their  enemies  shall  become 
a  prey  unto  them,  and  the  everlasting  hills  shall  tremble  at 
their  presence."  For  this  time,  these  men  and  women 
among  whom  I  have  lived  are  actually  waiting ! 

Of  course,  we  ordinary  Christians,  whose  religion  sits 
lightly  upon  us,  cannot,  without  some  effort,  understand 
the  stern  faith  with  which  the  Mormons  cling  to  their 
translations  of  Old  Testament  prophecy.  Nor  is  it  easy  to 
credit  the  fierce  earnestness  with  which,  for  instance,  the 
Saints  look  forward  to  the  accomplishment  of  the  promise 
thai  they  shall  eventually  possess  Jackson  County,  Missouri. 
But  if  this  spirit  of  intense  superstition  is  not  properly 


I2O  Sinners  and  Saints. 

taken  into  account  by  those  who  try  to  make  the  Mormons 
alter  their  beliefs,  they  run  the  risk  of  under-estimating  the 
seriousness  of  their  attempt.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  it  is 
properly  taken  into  account,  the  difficulty  of  forcing  this 
people  to  abandon  their  creeds  will  be  at  once  seen  to  be 
very  grave. 

Except,  perhaps,  the  Kurdish  outbreak  on  the  Persian 
frontier  some  three  years  ago,  there  has  been  no  problem 
like  the  Mormon  one  presented  to  the  consideration  of 
modern  Europe.  In  the  case  of  the  Kurds,  two  nations, 
Turkey  and  Persia,  were  within  an  ace  of  war,  in  con- 
sequence of  the  insurgents  pretending  that  a  point  of 
religion  was  involved,  and  popular  fanaticism  very  nearly 
slipping  beyond  the  control  of  their  respective  govern- 
ments. 

When  living  at  a  distance  from  Salt  Lake  City,  it  is  very 
difficult  indeed  to  recognize  the  truth  of  the  situation. 
Until  I  went  there  I  always  found  that  though  in  a  general 
way  the  obstacles  to  a  speedy  settlement  were  admitted, 
yet  that  somehow  or  another  there  was  always  the  after- 
thought that  Mormonism  was  only  an  inflated  imposture, 
and  -that  it  would  collapse  at  the  first  touch  of  law.  It 
was  allowed  on  all  hands  that  the  position  was  a  peculiar 
one,  but  it  was  hinted  also  that  it  was  an  absurd  one. 
"  No  doubt,"  it  was  argued,  "  the  Mormons  are  an  obstinate 
set  of  men,  but  after  all  they  have  got  common  sense. 
When  they  see  that  everybody  is  against  them,  that  poly- 
gamy is  contrary  to  the  spirit  of  the  times,  that  all  the 
future  of  Utah  depends  upon  their  abandonment  of  it, 
that  resistance  is  worse  than  senseless,"  and  so  on,  they 
will  give  in.  Let  opinion  as  to  the  "  bigotry "  of  the 
Mormons  or  their  capacity  for  mischief  be  what  it  might, 
there  was  always  a  qualifying  addendum  to  the  effect  that 


Law  versus  Conscience.  121 

"  nothing  would  come  of  all  this  fuss."  The  Mormons,  in 
fact,  were  supposed  to  be  "  bluffing,"  and  it  was  taken  for 
granted  therefore  that  they  had  a  weak  hand. 

But  in  Salt  Lake  City  it  is  impossible  to  speak  in  this 
way.  A  Mormon — a  man  of  absolute  honesty  of  speech — 
in  conversation  on  this  subject  declared  to  me  that 
he  could  not  abandon  plurality  without  apostatizing,  and 
rather  than  do  it,  he  would  burn  his  house  and  business 
premises  down,  go  away  to  the  Mexicans,  die,  if  necessary. 
Now,  that  man  may  any  day  be  put  to  the  very  test 
he  spoke  of.  He  will  have  to  abandon  polygamy,  or  else, 
if  his  adversaries  are  malicious,  spend  virtually  the  whole 
of  his  life  in  jail.  Which  will  he  do  ?  And  what  will  all 
the  others  df  his  way  of  thinking  do  ?  Will  they  defy  the 
law,  or  will  they  try  to  break  it  down  by  its  own  weight — 
that  is  to  say,  load  the  files  with  such  numbers  of  cases, 
and  fill  the  prisons  with  such  numbers  of  convicts  that  the 
machinery  will  clog  and  break  down  ?  The  heroic  alterna- 
tives of  burning  down  their  houses,  going  off  to  Mexico, 
and  dying  will  not  be  offered  them.  Their  choice  will 
simply  lie  between  monogamy  (or  celibacy)  and  prison,  two 
very  prosaic  things — and  one  or  the  other  they  must 
accept.  Such  at  any  rate  is  the  opinion  of  the  world. 

But  the  Mormons,  as  I  have  already  shown,  do  not 
admit  this  simplicity  in  the  solution  at  all.  From  the 
point  of  view  of  the  law-makers,  they  allow  that  the  option 
before  them  is  very  commonplace.  But  the  law-makers, 
they  say,  have  omitted  to  take  into  consideration  certain 
facts  which  complicate  the  solution.  For  though,  as  I 
have  said,  the  majority  may  be  expected  to  accept  such 
qualified  martyrdom  as  is  offered,  and  "  await  the  Lord's 
time,"  yet  there  can  be  no  doubt  whatever  that  strict 
Mormons  will  not  acquiesce  in  the  suppression  of  their 


122  Sinners  and  Saints. 

doctrines,  and  among  so  many  who  are  strict  is  it  reasonable 
to  expect  that  there  will  be  no  violent  advisers  ?  Their 
teachers  have  perpetually  taught  them,  and  their  leaders 
assured  them  that  prophecy  had  found  its  fulfilment  in  the 
establishment  of  the  Church  in  Utah.  Here,  and  nowhere 
else,  the  Saints  are  to  await  "  fhe  fulness  of  time,"  when  the 
whole  world  shall  yield  obedience  to  their  government, 
and  reverence  to  their  religion.  The  Rocky  Mountains, 
and  no  other,  are  "  the  mountains "  of  Holy  Writ  where 
"  Zion  "  was  to  be  built ;  and  they,  the  Mormons,  are  the 
remnant  of  Ephraim  that  are  to  welcome  and  pass  on  the 
returning  Jews.  How,  then,  can  the  Saints  reconcile  them- 
selves to  another  exodus  ?  Mexico,  they  say,  would  welcome 
them ;  but  if  the  richest  lands  in  the  world,  and  all  the 
privileges  they  ask  for  were  offered  them,  they  could  not 
stultify  revelation  and  prophecy  by  accepting  the  offer. 
Moreover,  they  have  been  assured  times  without  number 
that  they  should  never  be  "  driven  "  again,  and  times  without 
number  that  their  enemies  "  shall  not  prevail  against 
them."  To  many,  to  most,  this,  of  course,  now  points  to 
some  interposition  of  Divine  Providence  in  their  favour. 
The  crisis  may  seem  dangerous,  and  the  opposition  to 
them  overwhelming.  But  they  are  convinced — it  is  no 
mere  matter  of  opinion  with  them — that  if  they  are  only 
patient  under  persecution  and  keep  on  living  their  religion, 
the  persecution  will  cease,  and  the  triumph  of  their  faith 
be  fulfilled.  Europe  and  America,  they  believe,  are  about 
to  be  involved  in  terrific  disasters.  Wars  of  unprecedented 
magnitude  are  to  be  waged,  and  natural  catastrophes,  un- 
paralleled in  history,  are  to  occur.  But,  in  the  midst  of  all 
this  shock  of  thrones,  this  convulsion  of  the  elements,  Zion 
on  the  Mountains  is  to  be  at  peace  and  in  prosperity.  It 
will  be  the  one  still  harbour  in  all  the  ocean  of  troubles, 


An  Opportunity  for  a  Bluff.  123 

and  to  it,  as  to  their  final  haven,  all  the  elect  of  all  the 
nations  are  to  gather.  The  prudent,  therefore,  looking  for- 
ward to  this  apocalypse  of  general  ruin,  counsel  submission 
to  the  passing  storm,  endurance  under  legal  penalties,  and 
fidelity  to  their  doctrine. 

But  all  are  not  prudent.  Every  Gethsemane  has  its  Peter. 
And  from  that  memorable  garden  they  draw  a  lesson.  The 
Saviour,  they  say,  meant  fighting,  but  when  he  saw  that 
resistance  to  such  odds  as  came  against  him  could  have  only 
ended  in  the  massacre  of  his  disciples,  he  went  to  prison. 

That  Brigham  Young,  if  alive,  would  have  decided  upon 
a  military  demonstration,  the  sons  of  Zeruiah  are  very  ready 
to  believe,  for  they  say  that,  even  if  the  worst  were  to  happen 
and  they  had  eventually  to  capitulate  under  unreasonable 
odds,  their  position  would  be  preferable  to  that  which  they 
hold  to-day.  To-day  they  lie,  the  whole  community  to- 
gether, under  the  ban  of  civil  disabilities,  as  a  criminal 
class,  at  the  mercy  of  police — a  proscribed  people.  In  the 
future,  if  compelled  to  surrender  their  arms,  they  would  be 
in  the  position  of  prisoners  on  parole,  under  the  honourable 
conditions  of  a  military  capitulation.  The  worst,  therefore, 
that  could  happen  would,  they  say,  be  better  than  what  is. 

Such,  at  any  rate,  they  assert,  would  have  been  the  ar- 
gument of  Brigham  Young,  and  Gentiles  even  confess  that 
if  the  late  President  were  still  at  the  head  of  the  Church 
the  temptation  for  "a  great  bluff"  would  be  irresistible. 


124  Sinners  and  Saints. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

THE  SAINTS   AND   THE   RED   MEN. 

Prevalent  errors  as  to  the  red  man— Secret  treaties— The  policy  of  the 
Mormons  towards  Indians  —  A  Christian  heathen  —  Fighting- 
strength  of  Indians  friendly  to  Mormons. 

I  HAPPENED  some  time  ago  to  repeat,  in  the  presence  of 
two  "  Gentiles,"  a  Mormon's  remark  that  the  Indians  were 
more  friendly  towards  the  Saints  than  towards  other  Ameri- 
cans, and  the  comments  of  the  two  gentlemen  in  question 
exactly  illustrated  the  two  errors  which  I  find  are  usually 
made  on  this  subject. 

One  said :  "  Oh,  yes,  don't  you  know  the  Mormons  have 
secret  treaties  with  the  Indians  ?  " 

And  the  other:  "And  much  good  may  they  do  them; 
these  wretched  Indians  are  a  half-starved,  cricket-eating  set, 
not  worth  a  cent." 

Now,  I  confess  that  till  I  came  to  Utah  I  had  an  idea 
that  the  Utes  were  always  "  the  Indians  "  that  were  meant 
when  the  friendly  relations  of  the  Mormons  with  the  red 
men  were  referred  to.  About  secret  treaties  I  knew  nothing, 
either  one  way  or  the  other.  But  while  I  was  there  I  took 
much  pains  to  arrive  at  the  whole  truth — the  President  of 
the  Church  having  very  courteously  placed  the  shelves  of 
the  Historian's  office  at  my  service — and  I  found  no  refer- 
ence whatever,  even  in  and- Mormon  literature,  to  any 
"  secret  treaty." 


How  the  Saints  treat  the  Indians.        125 

The  Mormons  themselves  scorn  the  idea  and  give  the 
following  reasons  :  i.  No  treaty  made  with  a  tribe  of  Indians 
could  be  kept  secret.  2.  There  is  no  .necessity  for  a  treaty 
of  any  kind,  as  the  dislike  of  the  Indians  to  the  United 
States  is  sufficiently  hearty  to  make  them  friendly  to  the 
Territory  if  it  came  to  a  choice  between  the  one  or  the 
other.  3.  The  conciliatory  policy  of  the  Church  towards 
the  Indians  obviates  all  necessity  for  further  measures  of 
alliance. 

And  this  I  believe  to  be  the  fact.  Indeed,  I  know 
that  Mormons  can  go  where  Gentiles  cannot,  and  that 
under  a  Mormon  escort,  lives  are  safe  in  an  Indian  camp 
that  without  it  would  be  in  great  peril.  I  know  further 
that  on  several  occasions  (and  this  is  on  official  record)  the 
expostulations  of  Mormons  have  prevented  Indians  from 
raiding — and  I  think  this  ought  to  be  remembered  when 
sinister  constructions  are  put  upon  the  friendliness  of  Saints 
towards  the  Indians. 

From  the  very  first,  the  Church  has  inculcated  forbear- 
ance and  conciliation  towards  the  tribes,  and  even  during 
the  exodus  from  the  Missouri  River,  harassed  though  they 
sometimes  were  by  Indians,  the  Mormons,  as  a  point  of 
policy,  always  tried  to  avert  a  collision  by  condoning  of- 
fences that  were  committed,  instead  of  punishing  them.  If 
the  red  men  came  begging  round  their  waggons  they  gave 
them  food,  and  if  they  stole — and  what  Indian  will  not  steal, 
seeing  that  theft  is  the  road  to  honour  among  his  people  ? — 
the  theft  was  overlooked.  Very  often,  it  is  true,  individual 
Mormons  have  avenged  the  loss  of  a  horse  or  a  cow  by  taking 
a  red  man's  life,  but  this  was  always  in  direct  opposition  to 
the  teachings  of  the  Church,  which  pointed  out  that  murder 
in  the  white  man  was  a  worse  oifence  than  theft  in  the  red, 
and  in  opposition  to  the  policy  of  the  leaders,  who  have 


1 2  6  Sinners  and  Saints. 

always  insisted  that  it  was  "  cheaper  to  feed  than  to  fight "  the 
Indians.  In  spite,  however,  of  this  treatment  the  tribes 
have  again  and  again  compelled  the  Mormons  to  take  the 
field  against  them,  but  as  a  rule  the  extent  of  Mormon  re- 
taliation was  to  catch  the  plunderers,  retake  their  stolen 
stock,  hang  the  actual  murderers  (if  murder  had  been  com- 
mitted) and  let  the  remainder  go  after  an  amicable  pow-wow. 
Strict  justice  was  as  nearly  as  possible  always  adhered  to, 
and  whenever  their  word  was  given,  that  word  was  kept 
sacred,  even  to  their  own  loss. 

Both  these  things,  justice  and  truth,  every  Indian  under- 
stands. They  do  not  practise  them,  but  they  appreciate 
them.  Just  as  among  themselves  they  chivalrously  under- 
take the  support  of  the  squaws  and  children  of  a  conquered 
tribe,  or  as  they  never  steal  property  that  has  been  placed 
under  the  charge  of  one  of  their  own  tribe,  so  when  dealing 
with  white  men,  they  have  learned  to  expect  fairness  in 
reprisals  and  sincerity  in  speech.  When  they  find  them- 
selves cheated,  as  they  nearly  always  are  by  "  Indian 
agents,"  they  cherish  a  grudge,  and  when  they  suffer  an 
unprovoked  injury  (as  when  emigrants  shoot  a  passing  red 
man  just  as  they  would  shoot  a  passing  coyote),  they  wreak 
their  barbarous  revenge  upon  the  first  victims  they  can  find. 
From  the  Mormons  they  have  always  received  honest  treat- 
ment, comparative  fairness  in  trade  and  strict  truthfulness 
in  engagements,  while,  taking  men  killed  on  both  sides,  it 
is  a  question  whether  the  red  men  have  not  killed  more 
Mormons  than  Mormons  have  red  men. 

During  the  war  of  1865-67,  I  find,  for  instance,  that  all 
the  recorded  deaths  muster  eighty-seven  on  the  Indian  side 
and  seventy-nine  on  the  Mormon,  while  the  latter,  besides 
losing  great  numbers  of  cattle  and  horses,  having  vast 
quantities  of  produce  destroyed  and  buildings  burned  down, 


Reasons  of  the  Red  Maris  Friendliness.   127 

had  temporarily  to  abandon  the  counties  of  Piute  and 
Sevier,  as  well  as  the  settlements  of  Berrysville,  Winsor, 
Upper  and  Lower  Kanab,  Shuesberg,  Springdale  and 
Northup,  and  many  places  in  Kane  County,  also  some 
settlements  in  Iron  County,  while  the  total  cost  of  the 
war  was  over  a  million  dollars— of  which,  by  the  way,  the 
Government  has  not  repaid  a  Territory  a  cent.  During  the 
twenty  years  preceding  1865  there  had  been  numerous 
raids  upon  Mormon  settlements,  most  of  them  due  to  the 
thoughtless  barbarity  of  passing  emigrants  ;  but  as  a  rule,  the 
only  revenge  taken  by  the  Mormons  was  expostulation,  and 
the  despatch  cf  missionaries  to  them  with  the  Bible,  and 
medicines  and  implements  of  agriculture. 

The  result  to-day  is  exactly  what  Brigham  Young  foresaw. 
The  Indians  look  upon  the  Mormons  as  suffering  with 
themselves  from  the  earth-hunger  of  "  Gentiles,"  and  feel  a 
community  in  wrong  with  them,  while  they  consider  them 
different  from  all  other  white  men  in  being  fair  in  their  acts 
and  straightforward  in  their  speech.  In  1847  a  chief  of  the 
Pottawatomies— then  being  juggled  for  the  second  time 
from  a  bad  reservation  to  a  worse— came  into  the  camp  of 
the  Mormons — then  for  the  second  time  flying  from  one  of 
the  most  awful  persecutions  that  ever  disgraced  any  nation 
— and  on  leaving  spoke  as  follows — (he  spoke  good  French, 
by  the  way)  :  "  My  Mormon  brethren, — We  have  both 
suffered.  We  must  help  one  another,  and  the  Great  Spirit 
will  help  us  both.  You  may  cut  and  use  all  the  wood  on 
our  lands  that  you  wish.  You  may  live  on  any  part  of  it 
that  we  are  not  actually  occupying  ourselves.  Because  one 
suffers,  and  does  not  deserve  it,  it  is  no  reason  he  shall 
suffer  always.  We  may  live  to  see  all  well  yet.  However, 
if  we  do  not,  our  children  will.  Good-bye." 
^  Now,  it  strikes  me  that  a  Christian  archbishop  would  find 


128  Sinners  and  Saints. 

it  hard  to  alter  the  Red  Indian's  speech  for  the  better.  It  is 
one  of  the  finest  instances  of  untutored  Christianity  in 
history,  and  contrasts  so  strangely  with  the  hideous  barbari- 
ties that  make  the  history  of  Missouri  so  infamous,  that  I 
can  easily  understand  the  sympathies  of  Mormons  being 
cast  in  with  the  Christian  heathens  they  fled  to,  rather  than 
the  heathen  Christians  they  fled  from.  Nor  from  that  day 
to  this,  have  the  Mormons  forgotten  the  hint  the  Pottawa- 
tomie  gave  them,  and  on  the  ground  of  common  suffering 
and  by  the  example  of  a  mutual  sympathy  have  kept  up  such 
relations  with  the  Indians,  even  under  exasperation,  that 
the  red  man's  lodge  is  now  open  to  the  Mormon  when  it  is 
closed  to  the  Gentile. 

What  necessity,  then,  have  the  Mormons  for  secret  treaties 
with  the  Indians?  None  whatever.  The  Indians  have, 
learned  by  the  last  half-century's  Experience  that  every 
"  treaty  "  made  with  them  has  only  proved  a  fraud  towards 
their  ruin,  while  during  the  same  period  they  have  learned 
that  the  word  of  the  Mormons,  who  never  make  treaties, 
can  be  relied  upon.  So  if  the  Saints  were  now  to  begin 
making  treaties,  they  would  probably  fall  in  the  estimation 
of  the  Indians  to  the  level  of  the  American  Government, 
and  participate  in  the  suspicion  which  the  latter  has  so 
industriously  worked  to  secure,  and  has  so  thoroughly 
secured. 

The  other  error  commonly  made  as  to  the  Indians  is  to 
underestimate  their  strength.  Now  the  Navajoes  alone 
could  bring  into  the  field  10,000  fighting  men ;  and,  besides 
these,  there  are  (specially  friendly  to  the  Mormons)  the 
Flatheads,  the  Shoshonees,  the  Blackfeet,  the  Bannocks, 
part  of  the  Sioux,  and  a  few  Apaches,  with,  of  course,  the 
Utes  of  all  kinds.  The  old  instinct  for  the  war-path  is  by 
no  means  dead,  as  the  recent  troubles  in  the  south  of 


Importance  of  the  Indians.  1 29 

Arizona  give  dismal  proof;  and  a  Mormon  invitation  would 
be  quite  sufficient  to  bring  all  "the  Lamanites"  together 
into  the  Wasatch  Mountains. 

That  any  such  idea  is  ever  entertained  by  Mormons  I 
heartily  repudiate.  But  I  think  it  worth  while  to  point  out, 
that — if  the  influence  of  the  Mormons  on  the  Indians  is 
considered  of  sufficient  importance  to  base  the  charge 
of  treasonable  alliance  upon  it — it  is  quite  illogical  to  sneer 
at  that  influence  as  making  no  difference  in  the  case  of 
difficulties  arising.  But  as  a  point  of  fact,  the  Mormons 
have  no  other  secret  in  their  relations  with  the  red  men 
than  that  they  treat  them  with  consideration,  and  make 
allowances  for  their  ethical  obliquities ;  and  further,  as  a 
point  of  fact  also,  these  same  tribes,  "the  Lamanites  "of 
the  Book  of  Mormon,  "  the  Lost  Tribes,"  are  in  them- 
selves so  formidable  that  under  white  leadership  they  would 
make  a  very  serious  accession  of  strength  to  any  public 
enemy  that  should  be  able  to  enlist  them. 


I  -10  Sinners  and  Saints. 


CHAPTER  X. 

REPRESENTATIVE   AND   UNREPRESENTATIVE   MORMONISM. 

Mormonism  and  Mormonism — Salt  Lake  City  not  representative — The 
miracles  of  water — How  settlements  grow— -The  town  of  Logan  : 
one  of  the  Wonders  of  the  West — The  beauty  of  the  valley — The 
rural  simplicity  of  life — Absence  of  liquor  and  crime — A  police 
force  of  one  man — Temple  mysteries — Illustrations  of  Mormon 
degradation — Their  settlement  of  the  "local  option"  question. 

SALT  Lake  City  is  not  the  whole  of  "Mormonism."  In 
the  Eastern  States  there  is  a  popular  impression  that  it  is. 
But  as  a  matter  of  fact,  it  hardly  represents  Mormonism  at 
all.  The  Gentile  is  too  much  there,  and  Main  Street  has 
too  many  saloons.  The  city  is  divided  into  two  parties, 
bitterly  antagonistic.  Newspapers  exchange  daily  abuse, 
and  sectarians  thump  upon  their  pulpit  cushions  at  each 
other  every  Sunday.  Visitors  on  their  travels,  sight-seeing, 
move  about  the  streets  in  two-horse  hacks,  staring  at  the 
houses  that  they  pass  as  if  some  monsters  lived  in  them. 
A  military  camp  stands  sentry  over  the  town,  and  soldiers 
slouch  about  the  doors  of  the  bars. 

All  this,  and  a  great  deal  more  that  is  to  be  seen  in 
Salt  Lake  City,  is  foreign  to  the  true  character  of  a  Mormon 
settlement.  Logan,  for  instance  (which  I  describe  later 
on),  is  characteristic  of  Mormonism,  and  nowhere  so 
characteristic  as  in  those  very  features  in  which  it  differs 
from  Salt  Lake  City.  The  Gentile  does  not  take  very 


Rural  Mormon  ism .  131 

kindly  to  Logan,  for  there  are  no  saloons  to  make  the 
place  a  "  live  town,"  and  no  public  animosities  to  give  it 
what  they  call  "  spirit ;"  everybody  knows  his  neighbour, 
and  the  sight-seeing  fiend  is  unknown.  The  one  and  only 
newspaper  hums  on  its  way  like  some  self-satisfied  bumble 
bee  ;  the  opposition  preacher,  with  a  congregation  of  eight 
women  and  five  men,  does  not  think  it  worth  while,  on 
behalf  of  such  a  shabby  constituency,  to  appeal  to  Heaven 
every  week  for  vengeance  on  the  200,000  who  don't 
agree  with  him  and  his  baker's  dozen.  There  is  no  pomp 
and  circumstance  of  war  to  remind  the  Saints  of  Federal 
surveillance,  no  brass  cannon  on  the  bench  pointing  at  the 
town  (as  in  Salt  Lake  City),  no  ragged  uniforms  at  street 
corners.  Everything  is  Mormon.  The  biggest  shop  is  the 
Co-operative  Store ;  the  biggest  place  of  worship  the 
Tabernacle ;  the  biggest  man  the  President  of  the  Stake. 
Everybody  that  meets,  "Brothers"  or  "Sisters"  each 
other  in  the  streets,  and  after  nightfall  the  only  man  abroad 
is  the  policeman,  who  as  a  rule  retires  early  himself;  and 
no  one  takes  precautions  against  thieves  at  night.  It  is  a 
very  curious  study,  this  well-fed,  neighbourly,  primitive 
life  among  orchards  and  corn-fields,  this  bees-in-a-clover- 
field  life,  with  eveiy  bee  bumbling  along  in  its  own  busy 
way,  but  all  taking  their  honey  back  to  the  same  hive.  It 
is  not  a  lofty  life,  nor  "  ideal "  to  my  mind,  but  it  fs 
emphatically  ideal,  if  that  word  means  anything  at  all,  and 
its  outcome,  where  exotic  influences  are  not  at  work,  is 
contentment  and  immunity  from  crime,  and  an  Old-World 
simplicity. 

But  Logan  is  not  by  any  means  a  solitary  illustration. 
For  the  Mormon  settlements  follow  the  line  of  the  valleys 
that  run  north  and  south,  and  every  one  of  them,  where 
water  is  abundant,  is  a  Logan  in  process  of  development. 

K    2 


132  Sinners  and  Saints. 

For  water  is  the  philosopher's  stone  ;  the  fairy  All-Good  ; 
the  First  Cause  ;  the  everything  that  men  here  strive  after 
as  the  source  of  all  that  is  desirable.  It  is  silver  and  gold, 
pearls  and  rubies,  and  virtuous  women — which  are  "  above 
rubies  " — everything  in  fact  that  is  precious.  It  spirits  up 
Arabian-Nights  enchantments,  and  gives  industry  a  talisman 
to  work  with.  Without  it,  the  sage-brush  laughs  at  man, 
and  the  horn  of  the  jack-rabbit  is  exalted  against  him. 
With  it,  corn  expels  the  weed,  and  the  long-eared  rodent  is 
ploughed  out  of  his  possession.  Without  it,  greasewood 
and  gophers  divide  the  wilderness  between  them.  With  it, 
homesteads  spring  up  and  gather  the  orchards  around 
them.  Without  it,  the  silence  of  the  level  desert  is  broken 
only  by  the  coyote  and  the  lark.  With  it,  comes  the 
laughter  of  running  brooks,  the  hum  of  busy  markets,  and 
the  cheery  voices  of  the  mill-wheels  by  the  stream.  With- 
out it,  the  world  seems  a  dreary  failure.  With  it,  it  brightens 
into  infinite  possibilities.  No  wonder  then  that  men  prize 
it,  exhaust  ingenuity  in  obtaining  it,  quarrel  about  it.  I 
wonder  they  do  not  worship  it.  Men  have  worshipped 
trees,  and  wind,  and  the  sun,  for  far  less  cause. 

Nothing  indeed  is  so  striking  in  all  these  Mormon 
settlements  as  the  supreme  importance  of  water.  It  deter- 
mines locations,  regulates  their  proportions,  and  controls 
their  prosperity.  Here  are  thousands  of  acres  barren — 
though  I  hate  using  such  a  word  for  a  country  of  such 
beautiful  wild  flowers — because  there  is  no  water.  There 
is  a  small  nook  bursting  with  farmsteads  and  trees, 
because  there  is  water.  Men  buy  and  sell  water- 
claims  as  if  they  were  mining  stock  "with  millions  in 
sight,"  and  appraise  each  other's  estates  not  by  the  stock 
that  grazes  on  them,  or  the  harvests  gathered  from 


Water )  the  Wonder-worker.  133 

them,  but  by  the  water-rights  that  go  with  them.  Thus, 
a  man  in  Arizona  buys  a  forty-acre  lot  with  a  spring 
on  it,  and  he  speaks  of  it  as  70,000  acres  of  "wheat" 
Another  has  acquired  the  right  of  the  head-waters  of  a 
little  mountain  stream  ;  he  is  spoken  of  as  owning  "  the 
finest  ranch  in  the  valley."  Yet  the  one  has  not  put  a 
plough  into  the  ground,  the  other  has  not  a  single  head 
of  cattle  !  But  each  possessed  the  "open  sesame"  to  un- 
told riches,  and  in  a  country  given  over  to  this  new 
form  of  hydromancy  was  already  accounted  wealthy. 

Every  stream  in  Utah  might  be  a  Pactolus,  every 
pool  a  Bethesda.  To  compass,  then,  this  miracle-working 
thing,  the  first  energies  of  every  settlement  are  directed  in 
union.  The  Church  comes  forward  if  necessary  to  help, 
and  every  one  contributes  his  labour.  At  first  the  stream 
where  it  leaves  the  canon,  and  debouches  upon  the  levels 
of  the  valley,  is  run  off  into  canals  to  north  and  south  and 
west  (for  all  the  streams  run  from  the  eastern  range),  and 
from  these,  like  the  legs  of  a  centipede,  minor  channels 
run  to  each  farmstead,  and  thence  again  are  drawn  off  in 
numberless  small  aqueducts  to  flood  the  fields.  The  final 
process  is  simple  enough,  for  each  of  the  furrows  by  which 
the  water  is  let  in  upon  the  field  is  in  turn  dammed  up  at 
the  further  end,  and  each  surrounding  patch  is  thus  in  turn 
submerged.  But  the  settlement  expands,  and  more  ground 
is  needed.  So  another  canal  taps  the  stream  above  the 
canon  mouth,  the  main  channels  again  strike  off,  irrigating 
the  section  above  the  levels  already  in  cultivation,  and 
overlapping  the  original  area  at  either  end.  And  every 
time  increasing  population  demands  more  room,  the 
stream  is  taken  off  higher  and  higher  up  the  canon.  The 
cost  is  often  prodigious,  but  necessity  cannot  stop  to 


134  Sinners  and  Saints. 

haggle  over  arithmetic,  and  the  Mormon  settlements  there- 
fore have  developed  a  system  of  irrigation  which  is  certainly 
among  the  wonders  of  the  West. 

"  Logan  is  the  chief  Mormon  settlement  in  the  Cache 
Valley,  and  is  situated  about  eighty  miles  to  the  north  of 
Salt  Lake  City.  Population  rather  over  4000."  Such  is 
the  ordinary  formula  of  the  guide  book.  But  if  I  had  to 
describe  it  in  few  words  I  should  say  this  :  "  Logan  is 
without  any  parallel,  even  among  the  wonders  of  Western 
America,  for  rapidity  of  growth,  combined  with  solid 
prosperity  and  tranquillity.  Population  rather  over  4000, 
every  man  owning  his  own  farm.  Police  force,  two  men — 
partially  occupied  in  agriculture  on  their  own  account. 
N.B.— No  police  on  Sundays,  or  on  meeting  evenings,  as 
the  force  are  otherwise  engaged." 

And  writing  sincerely  I  must  say  that  I  have  seen 
few  things  in  America  that  have  so  profoundly  impressed 
me  as  this  Mormon  settlement  of  Logan.  It  is  not 
merely  that  the  industry  of  men  and  women,  penniless 
emigrants  a  few  years  ago,  has  made  the  valley  surpassing 
in  its  beauty.  That  it  has  filled  the  great  levels  that  stretch 
from  mountain  to  mountain  with  delightful  farmsteads, 
groves  of  orchard-trees,  and  the  perpetual  charm  of  crops. 
That  it  has  brought  down  the  river  from  its  idleness  in  the 
canons  to  busy  itself  in  channels  and  countless  waterways 
with  the  irrigation  and  culture  of  field  and  garden ;  to  lend 
its  strength  to  the  mills  which  saw  up  the  pines  that  grow 
on  its  native  mountains;  to  grind  the  corn  for  the  15,000 
souls  that  live  in  the  valley,  and  to  help  in  a  hundred  ways 
to  make  men  and  women  and  children  happy  and  comfort- 
able, to  beautify  their  homes,  and  reward  their  industry. 
All  this  is  on  the  surface,  and  can  be  seen  at  once  by  any 
one. 


An  Idyll.  135 


But  there  is  much  more  than  mere  fertility  and  beauty 
in  Logan  and  its  surroundings,  for  it  is  a  town  without 
crime,  a  town  without  drunkenness  !  With  this  knowledge 
one  looks  again  over  the  wonderful  place,  and  what  a  new 
significance  every  feature  of  the  landscape  now  possesses  ! 
The  clear  streams,  perpetually  industrious  in  their  loving 
care  of  lowland  and  meadow  and  orchard,  and  so  cheery, 
too,  in  their  incessant  work,  are  a  type  of  the  men  and 
women  themselves ;  the  placid  cornfields  lying  in  bright 
levels  about  the  houses  are  not  more  tranquil  than  the 
lives  of  the  people  ;  the  tree-crowded  orchards  and  stack- 
filled  yards  are  eloquent  of  universal  plenty;  the  cattle 
loitering  to  the  pasture  contented,  the  foals  all  running 
about  in  the  roads,  while  the  waggons  which  their  mothers 
are  drawing  stand  at  the  shop  door  or  field  gate,  strike  the 
new-comer  as  delightfully  significant  of  a  simple  country 
life,  of  mutual  confidence,  and  universal  security. 

And  yet  I  had  not  come  there  in  the  humour  to  be 
pleased,  for  I  was  not  well.  But  the  spirit  of  the  place 
was  too  strong  for  me,  and  the  whole  day  ran  on  by  itself 
in  a  veritable  idyll. 

A  hen  conveying  her  new  pride  of  chickens  across 
the  road,  with  a  shepherd  dog  loftily  approving  the  ex- 
pedition in  attendance ;  a  foal  looking  into  a  house  over  a 
doorstep,  with  the  family  cat,  outraged  at  the  intrusion, 
bristling  on  the  stoop ;  two  children  planting  sprigs  of 
peach  blossoms  in  one  of  the  roadside  streams ;  a  baby 
peeping  through  a  garden  wicket  at  a  turkey-cock  which 
was  hectoring  it  on  the  sidewalk  for  the  benefit  of  one 
solitary  supercilious  sparrow — such  were  the  little  vignettes 
of  pretty  nonsense  that  brightened  my  first  walk  in  Logan. 
I  was  alone,  so  I  walked  where  I  pleased ;  took  notice  of 
the  wild  birds  that  make  themselves  as  free  in  the  streets 


136  Sinners  and  Saints. 

as  if  they  were  away  up  in  the  canons  ;  of  the  wild  flowers 
that  still  hold  their  own  in  the  corners  of  lots,  and  by  the 
roadway ;  watched  the  men  and  women  at  their  work  in 
garden  and  orchard,  the  boys  driving  the  waggons  to  the 
mill  and  the  field,  the  girls  busy  with  little  duties  of  the 
household,  and  "the  little  ones,"  just  as  industrious  as  all 
the  rest,  playing  at  irrigation  with  their  mimic  canals,  three 
inches  wide,  old  fruit-cans  for  buckets,  and  posies  stuck 
into  the  mud  for  orchards.  I  stopped  to  talk  to  a  man 
here  and  a  woman  there ;  helped  to  fetch  down  a  kitten 
out  of  an  apple-tree,  and,  at  the  request  of  a  boy,  some 
ten  years  old,  I  should  say,  opened  a  gate  to  let  the  team 
he  was  driving,  or  rather  being  walked  along  with,  go  into 
the  lot. 

It  was  a  beautiful  day,  and  all  the  trees  were  either  in 
full  bloom  or  bright  young  leaf;  and  the  conviction 
gradually  grew  upon  me  that  I  had  never,  out  of  England, 
seen  a  place  so  simple,  so  neighbourly,  so  quiet. 

Later  on  I  was  driven  through  the  town  to  the  Temple. 
The  wide  roads  are  all  avenued  with  trees,  and  behind  trees, 
each  in  its  own  garden,  or  orchard,  or  lot  of  farm-land, 
stands  a  ceaseless  succession  of  cottage  homes.  Here  and 
there  a  "  villa,"  but  the  great  majority  "  cottages."  Not  the 
dog-kennels  in  which  the  Irish  peasantry  are  content  to 
grovel  through  life  so  long  as  they  need  not  work  and  can 
have  their  whisky.  Not  the  hovels  which  in  some  parts  of 
rural  England  house  the  farm  labourer  and  his  unkempt 
urchins.  But  cleanly,  comfortable  homes,  some  of  adobe, 
some  of  wood,  with  porticos  and  verandahs  and  other  orna- 
ments, six  or  eight  or  even  ten  rooms,  with  barns  behind 
for  the  cow  and  the  horse  and  the  poultry,  bird-cages  at  the 
doors,  clean  white  curtains  at  the  windows,  and  neatly 
bedded  flowers  in  the  garden-plots.  Hundred  after  hundred, 


A  very  degraded  Serf.  137 

each  in  its  own  lot  of  amply  watered  ground,  we  passed  the 
homes  of  these  Mormon  farmers,  and  it  was  a  wonderful 
thing  to  me — so  fresh  from  the  old  country,  with  its  elegance 
and  its  squalor  side  by  side;  so  lately  from  the  "live" 
cities  of  Colorado,  with  their  murrain  of  "  busted  "  million- 
aires and  hollow  shells  of  speculative  prosperity — this  great 
township  of  an  equal  prosperity  and  a  universal  comfort. 
Every  man  I  met  in  the  street  or  saw  in  the  fields  owned 
the  house  which  he  lived  in,  and  the  ground  that  his  rail- 
ings bounded.  Moreover  they  were  his  by  right  of  purchase, 
the  earnings  of  the  work  of  his  own  two  hands.  No  wonder, 
then,  they  demean  themselves  like  men. 

I  was  driving  with  the  President  of  the  "  stake  " — such  is 
the  name  of  the  Church  for  the  sub-divisions  of  its  Territory 
— and  the  chief  official,  therefore,  of  Logan,  when,  in  a 
narrow  part  of  the  road  we  met  a  down-trodden  Mormon 
serf  driving  a  loaded  waggon  in  the  opposite  direction. 
The  President  pulled  a  little  to  one  side,  motioning  the  man 
to  drive  past.  But  the  roadway  thus  left  for  him  was  rather 
rough  and  this  degraded  slave  of  the  Church,  knowing  the 
rule  of  the  road  (that  a  loaded  waggon  has  the  right  of  way 
against  all  other  vehicles),  calmly  pointed  with  his  whip- 
handle  to  the  side  of  the  road,  and  said  to  his  President. 
"  You  drive  there"  And  the  President  did  so,  whereat  the 
down-trodden  one  proceeded  on  his  way  in  the  best  of  the 
road. 

Now  this  may  be  accepted  as  an  instance  of  that  ab- 
ject servitude  which,  according  to  anti-Mormons,  charac- 
terizes the  followers  of  Mormonism.  As  another  illustration 
of  the  same  awe-stricken  subjection  may  be  here  noted  the 
fact,  that  whenever  the  President  slackened  pace,  passers- 
by,  men  and  women,  would  come  over  to  us,'  and  shaking 
hands  with  the  President,  exchange  small  items  of  domestic, 


138  Sinners  and  Saints. 

neighbourly  chat — the  health  of  the  family,  convalescence 
of  a  cow,  and,  speaking  generally,  discuss  Tommy's  measles. 
Now,  women  would  hardly  waste  a  despot's  time  with  intelli- 
gence of  an  infant's  third  tooth,  or  a  man  expatiate  on  the 
miraculous  recovery  of  a  calf  from  a  surfeit  of  damp  lucerne. 
I  chanced  also  one  day  to  be  with  an  authority  when 
a  man  called  in  to  apologize  for  not  having  repaid  his 
emigration  money;  and  to  me  the  incident  was  specially 
interesting  on  this  account,  that  very  few  writers  on  the 
Mormons  have  escaped  charging  the  Church  with  acting 
dishonestly  and  usuriously  towards  its  emigrants.  I  have 
read  repeatedly  that  the  emigrants,  being  once  in  debt,  are 
never  able  to  get  out  of  debt ;  that  the  Church  prefers  they 
should  not;  that  the  indebtedness  is  held  in  terrorem  over 
them.  But  the  man  before  me  was  in  exactly  the  same 
position  as  every  other  man  in  Logan.  He  had  been  brought 
out  from  England  at  the  expense  of  the  Perpetual  Emigra- 
tion Fund  (which  is  maintained  partly  by  the  "  tithings," 
chiefly  by  voluntary  donations),  and  though  by  his  labour  he 
had  been  able  to  pay  for  a  lot  of  ground  and  to  build  him- 
self a  house,  to  plant  fruit-trees,  buy  a  cow,  and  bring  his 
lot  under  cultivation,  he  had  not  been  able  to  pay  off  any  of 
the  loan  of  the  Church.  It  stood,  therefore,  against  him  at 
the  original  sum.  But  his  delinquency  distressed  him,  and 
"having  things  comfortable  about  him,"  as  he  said,  and 
some  time  to  spare,  he  came  of  his  own  accord  to  his 
"  Bishop,"  to  ask  if  he  could  not  work  off  part  of  his  debt. 
He  could  not  see  his  way,  he  said  to  any  ready  money, 
but  he  was  anxious  to  repay  the  loan,  and  he  came,  there- 
fore, to  offer  all  he  had — his  labour.  Now,  I  cannot  believe 
that  this  man  was  abused.  I  am  sure  he  did  not  think  he 
was  abused  himself.  Here  he  was  in  Utah,  comfortably 
settled  for  life,  and  at  no  original  expense  to  himself.  No 


Temple  Mysteries.  1 39 

one  had  bothered  him  to  pay  up ;  no  one  had  tacked  on 
usurious  interest.  So  he  came,  like  an  honest  man,  to  make 
arrangements  for  satisfying  a  considerate  creditor,  but  all  he 
got  in  answer  was,  that  "  there  was  time  enough  to  pay  " 
and  an  exchange  of  opinions  about  a  plough  or  a  harrow  or 
something.  And  he  went  off  as  crushed  down  with  debt  as 
ever.  And  he  very  nearly  added  to  his  debt  on  the  way,  by 
narrowly  escaping  treading  on  a  presumptuous  chicken 
which  was  reconnoitring  the  interior  of  the  house  from  the 
door-mat. 

To  return  to  my  drive.  After  seeing  the  town  we  drove 
up  to  the  Temple.  The  Mormon  "  temples  "  must  not  be 
mistaken  for  their  "  tabernacles."  The  latter  are  the  regular 
places  of  worship,  open  to  the  public.  The  former  are 
buildings  strictly  dedicated  to  the  rites  of  the  Endowments, 
the  meetings  of  the  initiated  brethren,  and  the  ceremonial 
generally  of  the  sacred  Masonry  of  Mormonism.  No  one 
who  has  not  taken  his  degrees  m  these  mysteries  has  access 
to  the  temples,  which  are,  or  will  be,  very  stately  piles,  con- 
structed on  architectural  principles  said  by  the  Church  to 
have  been  revealed  to  Joseph  Smith  piecemeal,  as  the  pro- 
gress of  the  first  Temple  (at  Kirkland)  necessitated,  and 
said  by  the  profane  to  be  altogether  contrary  to  all  pre- 
viously received  principles.  However  this  may  be,  the  style 
is,  from  the  outside,  not  so  prepossessing  as  the  cost  of  the 
buildings  and  the  time  spent  upon  them  would  have  led 
one  to  expect.  The  walls  are  of  such  prodigious  thickness, 
and  the  windows  so  narrow  and  comparatively  small,  that  the 
buildings  seem  to  be  constructed  for  defence  rather  than  for 
worship.  But  once  within,  the  architecture  proves  itself 
admirable.  The  windows  gave  abundant  light  and  the 
loftiness  of  the  rooms  imparts  an  airiness  that  is  as  surprising 
as  pleasing,  while  the  arrangement  of  staircases — leading,  as 


140  Sinners  and  Saints. 

I  suppose,  from  the  rooms  of  one  degree  in  the  "  Masonry  " 
to  the  next  higher — and  of  the  different  rooms,  all  of  con- 
siderable size,  and  some  of  very  noble  proportions  indeed,  is 
singularly  good. 

I  ought  to  say  that  this  Temple  at  Logan  is  the  only  one 
I  have  entered,  and  it  is  only  because  it  is  not  completed. 
This  year  the  building  will  be  finished — so  it  is  hoped — and 
the  ceremony  of  dedication  will  then  attract  an  enormous 
crowd  of  Mormons.  It  is  something  over  90  feet  in  height 
(not  including  the  towers,  which  are  still  wanting)  and 
measures  160  feet  by  70.  On  the  ground  floor,  judging 
from  what  I  know  of  the  secret  ritual  of  the  Church,  are  the 
reception-rooms  of  the  candidates  for  the  "  endowments," 
various  official  rooms,  and  the  font  for  baptism.  The  great 
laver,  10  feet  in  diameter,  will  rest  on  the  backs  of  twelve 
oxen  cast  in  iron  (and  modelled  from  a  Devon  ox  bred  by 
Brigham  Young)  and  will  be  descended  to  by  flights  of 
steps,  the  oxen  themselves  standing  in  water  half-knee-deep. 
On  the  next  floor  are  the  apartments  in  which  the  allegorical 
panorama  of  the  "  Creation  "  and  the  "Fall  of  Man"  will  be 
represented.  Here,  too,  will  be  the  "Veil,"  the  final  degree 
in  what  might  be  called,  in  Masonic  phrase,  "craft"  or 
"  blue  "  Masonry,  and,  except  for  higher  honorary  grades, 
the  ultimate  objective  point  of  Mormon  initiation.  Above 
these  rooms  is  a  vast  hall,  occupying  the  whole  floor,  in 
which  general  assemblies  of  the  initiated  brethren  and 
"  chapters  "  will  be  held.  The  whole  forms  a  very  imposing 
pile  of  great  solidity  and  some  grandeur,  built  of  a  gloomy, 
slate-coloured  stone  (to  be  eventually  coloured  a  lighter 
tint),  and  standing  on  a  magnificent  site,  being  raised  above 
the  town  upon  an  upper  "  bench"  of  the  slope,  and  showing 
out  superbly  against  the  monstrous  mountain  about  a  mile 
behind  it.  The  mountain,  of  course,  dwarfs  the  Temple  by 


A  Wonder  of  the  West.  141 

its  proximity,  but  the  position  of  the  building  was  un- 
doubtedly "  an  architectural  inspiration,"  and  gives  the  great 
pile  all  the  dominant  eminence  which  Mormons  claim  for 
their  Church. 

From  the  platform  of  the  future  tower  the  view  is  one 
of  the  finest  I  have  ever  seen.  The  valley,  reaching  for 
twenty  miles  in  one  direction,  and  thirty  in  the  other, 
with  an  average  width  of  about  ten  miles,  lies  beneath 
you,  level  in  the  centre,  and  gradually  sloping  on  every 
margin  up  to  the  mountains  that  bound  it  in.  Immediately 
underneath  you,  Logan  spreads  out  its  breadth  of  farm-land 
and  orchard  and  meadow,  with  the  river — or  rather  two 
rivers,  for  the  Logan  forks  just  after  leaving  the  canon — 
and  the  canal,  itself  a  pleasant  stream,  carrying  verdure 
and  fertility  into  every  nook  and  corner.  To  right  and 
left  and  in  front,  delightful  villages — Hirum,  Mendon, 
Wellsville,  Paradise,  and  the  rest,  all  of  them  miniature 
Logans — break  the  broad  reaches  of  crop-land,  with  their 
groves  of  fruit-trees,  and  avenues  of  willows  and  carob, 
box-elder,  poplar,  and  maple,  while  each  of  them  seems 
to  be  stretching  out  an  arm  to  the  other,  and  all  of  them 
trying  to  join  hands  with  Logan.  For  lines  of  homesteads 
and  groups  of  trees  have  straggled  away  from  each  pretty 
village,  and,  dotted  across  the  intervening  meadows  of 
lucerne  and  fields  of  corn,  form  links  between  them  all. 
Behind  them  rise  the  mountains,  still  capped  and  streaked 
with  snow,  but  all  bright  with  grass  upon  their  slopes. 
It  was  a  delightful  scene,  and  required  but  little  imagina- 
tion to  see  the  15,000  people  of  the  valley  grown  into 
150,000,  and  the  whole  of  this  splendid  tract  of  land  one 
continuous  Logan.  And  nothing  can  stop  that  day  but  an 
earthquake  or  a  chronic  pestilence.  For  Cache  Valley 
depends  for  its  prosperity  upon  something  surer  than 


142  Sinners  and  Saints. 

"wild-cat"  speculations,  or  mines  that  have  bottoms  to 
fall  out.  The  cumulative  force  of  agricultural  prosperity 
is  illustrated  here  with  remarkable  significance,  for  the 
town,  that  for  many  years  seemed  absolutely  stationary,  has 
begun  both  to  consolidate  and  to  expand  with  a  determi- 
nation that  will  not  be  gainsaid. 

The  sudden  success  of  a  mining  camp  is  volcanic  in 
its  ephemeral  rapidity.  The  gradual  growth  of  an  agricul- 
tural town  is  like  the  solid  accretion  of  a  coral  island. 
The  mere  lapse  of  time  will  make  it  increase  in  wealth, 
and  with  wealth  it  will  annually  grow  more  beautiful. 
Even  as  it  is,  I  think  this  settlement  of  Mormon  farmers 
one  of  the  noblest  of  the  pioneering  triumphs  of  the  Far 
West ;  and  in  the  midst  of  these  breathless,  feverish  States 
where  every  one  seems  to  be  chasing  some  will-o'-the-wisp 
with  a  firefly  light  of  gold,  or  of  silver — where  terrible 
crime  is  a  familiar  feature,  where  known  murderers  walk 
in  the  streets,  and  men  carry  deadly  weapons,  where  every 
other  man  complains  of  the  fortune  he  only  missed  making 
by  an  accident,  or  laments  the  fortune  he  made  in  three 
days,  and  lost  in  as  many  hours — it  is  surpassingly  strange 
to  step  out  suddenly  upon  this  tranquil  valley,  and  find 
oneself  among  its  law-abiding  men.  It  is  exactly  like  step- 
ping out  of  a  mine  shaft  into  the  fresh  pure  air  of  daylight. 

The  Logan  police  force  is  a  good-tempered-looking 
young  man.  There  is  another  to  help  him,  but  if  they  had 
not  something  else  to  do  they  would  either  have  to  keep 
on  arresting  each  other,  in  order  to  pass  the  time,  or  else 
combine  to  hunt  gophers  and  chipmunks.  As  it  is,  they 
unite  other  functions  of  private  advantage  with  their  con- 
stabulary performances,  and  thus  justify  their  existence. 
As  one  explanation  of  the  absence  of  crime,  there  is  not 
a  single  licence  for  liquor  in  the  town. 


No  Drink — No  Crime.  143 

Once  upon  a  time  there  were  three  saloons  in  Logan. 
But  one  night  a  Gentile,  passing  through  the  town,  shot  the 
young  Mormon  who  kept  one  of  them,  whereat  the  towns- 
folk lynched  the  murderer,  and  suppressed  all  the  saloons. 
After  a  while  licences  were  again  issued,  but  a  six  months' 
experiment  showed  that  the  five  arrests  of  the  previous 
half-year  had  increased  under  the  saloon  system  to  fifty- 
six,  so  the  town  suppressed  the  licences  again,  and  to-day 
you  cannot  buy  any  liquor  in  Logan.  I  am  told,  however, 
that  an  apostate,  who  is  in  business  in  the  town,  carries 
on  a  more  or  less  clandestine  distribution  of  strong  drinks  ; 
but  any  accident  resulting  therefrom,  another  murder,  for 
instance,  would  probably  put  an  end  to  his  trade  for  ever, 
for  it  is  not  only  the  Mormon  leaders,  but  the  Mormon 
people  that  refuse  to  have  drunkards  among  them. 

These  facts  about  Logan  are  a  sufficient  refutation  of 
the  calumny  so  often  repeated  by  apostates  and  Gentiles, 
that  the  Mormons  are  not  the  sober  people  they  profess 
to  be.  The  rules  now  in  force  in  Logan  were  once  in 
force  in  Salt  Lake  City,  but  thanks  to  reforming  Gentiles 
there  are  now  plenty  of  saloons  and  drunkards  in  the  latter. 
At  one  time  there  were  none,  but  finding  the  sale  of  drink 
inevitable,  the  Church  tried  to  regulate  it  by  establishing  its 
own  shops,  and  forbidding  it  to  be  sold  elsewhere.  But 
the  Federal  judge  refused  the  application.  So  the  city 
raised  the  saloon  licence  to  3600  dollars  per  annum  !  Yet, 
in  spite  of  this  enormous  tax,  two  or  three  bars  managed 
to  thrive,  and  eventually  numbers  of  other  men,  encouraged 
by  the  conduct  of  the  courts,  opened  drinking-saloons, 
refused  to  pay  the  licence,  and  defied — and  still  defy— all 
efforts  of  the  city  to  bring  them  under  control.  In  Logan, 
however,  these  are  still  the  days  of  no  drink,  and  the  days 
therefore  of  very  little  crime. 


144  Sinners  and  Saints. 


CHAPTER  XI. 

THROUGH   THE   MORMON    SETTLEMENTS. 

Salt  Lake  City  to  Nephi — General  similarity  of  the  settlements — From 
Salt  Lake  Valley  into  Utah  Valley— A  lake  of  legends— Provo— 
Into  the  Juab  valley— Indian  reminiscences — Commercial  inte- 
grity of  the  saints — At  Nephi — Good  work  done  by  the  saints— 
Type  of  face  in  rural  Utah — Mormon  * '  doctrine  "  and  Mormon 
*'  meetings." 

THE  general  resemblance  between  the  populations  of  the 
various  Mormon  settlements  is  not  more  striking  than  the 
general  resemblance  between  the  settlements  themselves. 

Two  nearly  parallel  ranges  of  the  Rocky  Mountains, 
forming  together  part  of  the  Wasatch  range,  run  north  and 
south  through  the  length  of  Utah,  and  enclose  between  them 
a  long  strip  of  more  or  less  desolate-looking  land.  Spurs 
run  out  from  these  opposing  ranges,  and  meeting,  cut  off 
this  strip  into  "  valleys  "  of  various  lengths,  so  that,  travel- 
ling from  north  to  south,  I  crossed  in  succession,  in  the 
line  of  four  hundred  miles  or  so,  the  Cache,  Salt  Lake, 
Utah,  Juab,  San  Pete,  and  Sevier  valleys  (the  last  enclosing 
Marysvale,  Circle  Valley  and  Panguitch  Valley),  and  having 
there  turned  the  end  of  the  Wasatch  range,  travelled  into 
Long  Valley,  which  runs  nearly  east  and  west  across  the 
Territory. 

In  the  Cache  and  the  Sevier  valleys  there  are  some 
noble  expanses  of  natural  meadow,  but  in  all  the  rest  the  soil, 


The  Settlements  of  the  Church.         145 

where  not  cultivated,  is  densely  overgrown  with  sage-brush, 
greasewood  and  rabbit-brush,  and  in  no  case  except  the 
Cache  Valley  (by  far  the  finest  section  of  the  Territory) 
and  Long  Valley,  is  the  water-supply  sufficient  to  irrigate 
the  whole  area  enclosed.  The  proportions  under  cultiva- 
tion vary  therefore  according  to  the  amount  of  the  water, 
and  the  size  of  th'e  settlements  is  of  course  in  an  almost 
regular  ratio  with  the  acreage  under  the  plough.  But  all 
are  exactly  on  the  same  pattern.  Wide  streets — varying 
from  80  to  1 60  feet  in  width — avenued  on  either  side  with 
cotton-wood,  box-elder,  poplar,  and  locust-trees,  and  usually 
with  a  runnel  of  water  alongside  each  side-walk,  intersect 
each  other  at  right  angles,  the  blocks  thus  formed  measuring 
from  four  to  ten  acres.  These  blocks  hold,  it  may  be,  as 
many  as  six  houses,  but,  as  a  rule,  three,  two,  or  only  one  ; 
while  the  proportion  of  fruit  and  shade-trees  to  dwelling- 
houses  ranges  from  a  hundred  to  one  to  twenty  to  one.  As 
the  lots  are  not  occupied  in  any  regular  succession,  there 
are  frequent  gaps  caused  by  empty  blocks,  while  the  streets 
towards  the  outer  limits  of  the  towns  are  still  half  over- 
grown with  the  original  sage-brush.  All  the  settlements 
therefore,  resemble  each  other,  except  in  size,  very  closely, 
and  may  be  briefly  described  as  groves  of  trees  and  fruit 
orchards  with  houses  scattered  about  among  them. 

The  settlements  of  the  Church  stretch  in  a  line  north 
and  south  throughout  the  whole  length  of  the  Territory, 
and  on  reaching  the  Rio  Virgin,  in  the  extreme  south, 
follow  the  course  of  that  river  right  across  Utah  to  the 
eastern  frontier.  The  soil  throughout  the  line  north  and 
south  appears  to  be  of  a  nearly  uniform  character,  as  the 
same  wild  plants  are  to  be  found  growing  on  it  everywhere, 
and  the  sudden  alternations  of  fertility  and  wilderness  are 
due  almost  entirely  to  the  abundance  or  absence  of  water. 

L 


1 46  Sinners  and  Saints. 

Leaving  Salt  Lake  City  to  go  south,  we  pass  through 
suburbs  of  orchard  and  garden,  with  nearly  the  whole  town 
in  panoramic  review  before  us,  and  find  ourselves  in  half 
an  hour  upon  levels  beyond  the  reach  of  the  city  channels, 
and  where  the  sage-brush  therefore  still  thrives  in  un- 
disturbed glory.  Bitterns  rise  from  the  rushes,  and  flights 
of  birds  wheel  above  the  patches  of  scrub.  And  so  to  the 
Morgan  smelting  camp,  and  then  the  Francklyn  works, 
where  the  ore  of  the  Horn  Silver  Mine  is  worked,  and 
then  the  Germania,  one  of  the  oldest  smelting  establish- 
ments in  the  Territory,  where  innocent  ore  of  all  kinds  is 
taken  in  and  mashed  up  into  various  "  bullions  " — irrita- 
menta  malorum.  Two  small  stations,  each  of  them  six  peach- 
trees  and  a  shed,  slip  by,  and  then  Sandy,  a  small  mining 
camp  of  poor  repute,  shuffles  past,  and  next  Draper,  an 
agricultural  settlement  that  seems  to  have  grown  fruit-trees 
to  its  own  suffocation. 

The  mountains  have  been  meanwhile  drawing  gradually 
closer  together,  and  here  they  join.  Salt  Lake  Valley  ends, 
and  Utah  Valley  begins,  and  crossing  a  "  divide "  we 
find  the  levels  of  the  Utah  Lake  before  us,  and  the  straggling 
suburbs  of  Lehi  about  us.  These  scattered  cottages  gradually 
thicken  into  a  village  towards  the  lake,  and  form  a  pleasant 
settlement  of  the  orthodox  Mormon  type.  The  receipt  for 
making  one  of  these  ought  to  be  something  as  follows : 
Take  half  as  much  ground  as  you  can  irrigate,  and  plant  it 
thickly  with  fruit-trees.  Then  cut  it  up  into  blocks  by 
cutting  roads  through  it  at  right  angles ;  sprinkle  cottages 
among  the  blocks,  and  plant  shade-trees  along  both  sides 
of  the  roads.  Then  take  the  other  half  of  your  ground  and 
spread  it  out  in  fields  around  your  settlement,  sowing  to 
taste. 

The   actual   process   is,  of  course,  the  above  reversed. 


A  Lake  of  Legends.  147 

A  log  hut  and  an  apple-tree  start  together  in  a  field  of  corn, 
and  the  rest  grows  round  them.  But  my  receipt  looks 
the  easier  of  the  two. 

Beyond  Lehi,  and  all  round  it,  cultivation  spreads  almost 
continuously — alternating  delightfully  with  orchards  and 
groves  and  meadows — to  American  Fork,  a  charming  settle- 
ment, smothered,  as  usual,  in  fruit  and  shade-trees.  The 
people  here  are  very  well-to-do,  and  they  look  it ;  and  their 
fields  and  herds  of  cattle  have  overflowed  and  joined  those 
of  Pleasant  Grove — another  large  and  prosperous  Mormon 
settlement  that  lies  further  back,  and  right  under  the  hills. 
It  would  be  very  difficult  to  imagine  sweeter  sites  for  such 
rural  hamlets  than  these  rich  levels  of  incomparable  soil 
stretching  from  the  mountains  to  the  lake,  and  watered  by 
the  canon  streams. 

"  Great  Salt  Lake  "  is,  of  course,  the  Utah  Lake  of  the 
outside  world.  But  "Utah  Lake"  proper,  is  the  large 
sheet  of  fresh  water  which  lies  some  thirty  miles  south  of 
Salt  Lake  City,  and  gives  its  name  to  the  valley  which  it 
helps  to  fertilize.  All  around  it,  except  on  the  western 
shore,  the  Mormons  have  planted  their  villages,  so  that 
from  Lehi  you  can  look  out  on  to  the  valley,  and  see  at  the 
feet  of  the  encircling  hills,  and  straggling  down  towards 
the  lake,  a  semicircle  of  settlements  that,  but  for  the 
sterility  of  the  mountain  slopes  on  the  west,  might  have 
formed  a  complete  ring  around  it.  But  no  springs  rise  on 
the  western  slopes,  and  the  settlements  of  the  valleys 
always  lie,  therefore,  on  the  eastern  side,  unless  some 
central  stream  gives  facilities  for  irrigation  on  the  western 
also. 

Utah  Lake  is  a  lake  of  legends.  In  the  old  Indian  days  it 
was  held  in  superstitious  reverence  as  the' abode  of  the  wind 
spirits  and  the  storm  spirits,  and  as  being  haunted  by  monsters 

L  2 


148  Sinners  and  Saints. 

of  weird  kind  and  great  size.  Particular  spots  were  too  un- 
canny for  the  red  men  to  pitch  their  lodges  there ;  and 
even  game  had  asylum,  as  in  a  city  of  refuge,  if  it  chanced 
to  run  in  the  direction  of  the  haunted  shore.  In  later 
times,  too,  the  Utah  Lake  has  borne  an  uncomfortable 
reputation  as  the  domain  of  strange  water-apparitions,  and 
several  men  have  recorded  visions  of  aquatic  monsters,  for 
which  science  as  yet  has  found  no  name,  but  which,  speaking 
roughly,  appear  to  have  been  imitations  of  that  delightful 
possibility,  the  sea  serpent.  Science,  I  know,  goes  dead 
against  such  gigantic  worms,  but  this  wonderful  Western 
country  has  astonishment  in  store  for  the  scientific  world. 
If  half  I  am  told  about  the  wondrous  fossils  of  Arizona  and 
thereabouts  be  true,  it  may  even  be  within  American 
resources  to  produce  the  kraken  himself.  In  the  mean 
time,  as  a  contribution  towards  it,  and  a  very  tolerable 
instalment,  too,  I  would  commend  to  notice  the  great 
snake  of  the  Utah  Lake.  It  has  frightened  men — and,  far 
better  evidence  than  that,  it  has  been  seen  by  children 
when  playing  on  the  shore.  I  say  "better,"  because 
children  are  not  likely  to  invent  a  plausible  horror  in  order 
to  explain  their  sudden  rushing  away  from  a  given  spot 
with  terrified  countenances  and  a  consistent  narrative — a 
horror,  too,  which  should  coincide  with  the  snake  super- 
stitions of  the  Pi-Ute  Indians.  Have  wise  men  from  the 
East  ever  heard  of  this  fabled  thing?  Does  the  Smithso- 
nian know  of  this  terror  of  the  lake — this  freshwater  kraken  — 
this  new  Mormon  iniquity  ? 

Visitors  have  made  the  American  Fork  Canon  too  well 
known  to  need  more  than  a  reference  here,  but  the  Provo 
Canon,  with  its  romantic  waterfalls  and  varied  scenery,  is  a 
feature  of  the  Utah  Valley  which  may  some  day  be  equally 
familiar  to  the  sight-seeing  world.  The  botanist  would 


Approach  to  Provo.  149 

find  here  a  field  full  of  surprises,  as  the  vegetation  is  of 
exceptional  variety,  and  the  flowers  unusually  profuse. 
Down  this  canon  tumbles  the  Provo  River ;  and  as  soon 
as  it  reaches  the  mouth — thinking  to  find  the  valley  an 
interval  of  placid  idleness  before  it  attains  the  final 
Buddhistic  bliss  of  absorption  in  the  lake,  the  Nirvana 
of  extinguished  individuality — it  is  seized  upon,  and  carried 
off  to  right  and  left  by  irrigation  channels,  and  ruthlessly 
distributed  over  the  slopes.  And  the  result  is  seen, 
approaching  Provo,  in  magnificent  reaches  of  fertile  land, 
acres  of  fruit-trees,  and  miles  of  crops. 

Provo  is  almost  Logan  over  again,  for  though  it  has  the 
advantage  over  the  northern  settlement  in  population,  it 
resembles  it  in  appearance  very  closely.  There  is  the  same 
abundance  of  foliage,  the  same  width  of  water-edged 
streets,  the  same  variety  of  wooden  and  adobe  houses, 
the  same  absence  of  crime  and  drunkenness,  the  same 
appearance  of  solid  comfort.  It  has  its  mills  and  its 
woollen  factory,  its  "  co-op."  and  its  lumber-yards.  There 
is  the  same  profusion  of  orchard  and  garden,  the  same  all- 
pervading  presence  of  cattle  and  teams.  The  daily  life  is 
the  same  too,  a  perpetual  industry,  for  no  sooner  is  break- 
fast over  than  the  family  scatters — the  women  to  the  dairy 
and  household  work,  the  handloom  and  the  kitchen  •  the 
men  to  the  yard,  the  mill,  and  the  field.  One  boy  hitches 
up  a  team  and  is  off  in  one  direction  ;  another  gets  astride 
a  barebacked  horse  and  is  off  in  another ;  a  third  disap- 
pears inside  a  barn,  and  a  fourth  engages  in  conflict  with  a 
drove  of  calves.  But  whatever  they  are  doing,  they  are  all 
busy,  from  the  old  man  pottering  with  the  water  channels 
in  the  garden  to  the  little  girls  pairing  off  to  school ;  and 
the  visitor  finds  himself  the  only  idle  person  in  the  settle- 
ment. 


1 50  Sinners  and  Saints. 

From  Provo — through  its  suburbs  of  foliage  and  glebe- 
land—past  Springville,  a  sweet  spot,  lying  back  under  the 
hills  with   a  bright   quick   stream  flowing  through  it  and 
houses  mobbed  by  trees.     Here  are  flour-mills  and  one  of 
the  first  woollen  mills  built  in  Utah.     In  the  days  of  its 
building  the  Indians  harried  the  valley,  and  young  men  tell 
how  as  children  they  used  to  lie  awake  at  nights  to  listen 
to  the  red  men  as  they  swept  whooping  and  yelling  through 
the  quiet  streets  of  the  little  settlement ;    how  the   guns 
stood  always  ready  against  the  wall,  and  the  windows  were 
barricaded  every  night  with  thick  pine  logs.     What  a  dif- 
ference now  !     Further  on,  but  still  looking  on  to  the  lake, 
is    Spanish   Fork   (nee   Palmyra),   where,  digging   a   water 
channel  the  other  day,  the  spade  turned  up  an  old  copper 
image  of  the  Virgin  Mary,  and  some  bones.     This  takes 
back  the  Mormon  settlement  of  to-day  to  the  long-ago  time 
when  Spanish  missionaries  preached  of  the  Pope  to  the 
Piutes,  and  gave   but  little   satisfaction  to  either  man  or 
beast,  for  their  tonsured  scalps  were  but  scanty  trophies 
and  the  coyote  found  their  lean  bodies  but  poor  picking. 
Only  fifteen  years  ago  the  Navajos  came  down  into  the 
valley  through  the  canon  which  the  Denver  and  Rio  Grande 
line  now  traverses,  but  the  Mormons  were  better  prepared 
than   the    Spanish  missionaries,    and  hunted   the    Navajo 
soul  out  of  the  Indians,  so  that  Spanish  Fork  is  now  the 
second  largest  settlement  in  the  valley,  and  the  Indians  come 
there  begging.      They  are  all  of  the  "  tickaboo  "  and  "good 
Injun"  sort,  the  "  how-how  "  mendicants  of  the  period.     All 
the  inhabitants  are  farmers,  and  their  settlement  affords  as 
good  an  illustration  of  the  advantages  of  co-operation  in 
stores,     farm-work,    mills— everything— as     can    well     be 
adduced. 

Co-operation,  by  the   way,  is   an   important   feature  of 


Past  and  Present.  1 5 1 

Mormon  life,  and  never,  perhaps,  so  much  on  men's 
tongues  and  in  their  minds  as  at  the  present  time.  The 
whole  community  has  been  aroused  by  the  consistent 
teaching  of  their  leaders  in  their  addresses  at  public  "  meet- 
ings," in  their  prayers  in  private  households,  to  a  sense  of 
the  "suicidal  folly,"  as  they  call  it,  of  making  men  wealthy 
(by  their  patronage)  who  use  their  power  against  the  Saints  ; 
and  the  Mormons  have  set  themselves  very  sincerely  to 
work  to  trade  only  with  themselves  and  to  starve  out  the 
Gentiles.  And  it  is  very  difficult  indeed  for  an  unpre- 
judiced man  not  to  sympathize  in  some  measure  with  the 
Mormons.  By  their  honesty  they  have  made  the  name 
"Mormon"  respected  in  "trade  all  over  America,  and  have 
attracted  shopkeepers,  who  on  this  very  honesty  have 
thriven  and  become  wealthy  in  Utah — and  yet  some  of 
these  men,  knowing  nothing  of  the  people  except  that  they 
are  straightforward  in  their  dealings  and  honourable  in  their 
engagements,  join  in  the  calumny  that  the  Mormons  are  a 
"  rascally,"  "  double-dealing "  set.  For  my  own  part,  I 
think  the  Church  should  have  starved  out  some  of  these 
slanderers  long  ago.  Even  now  it  would  be  a  step  in  tbs 
right  direction  if  the  Church  slipped  a  "  fighting  apostle  "  at 
the  men  who  go  on  day  after  day  saying  and  writing  that 
which  they  know  to  be  untrue,  calling,  for  instance,  virtuous, 
hard-working  men  and  women  "  the  villainous  spawn  of 
polygamy,"  and  advocating  the  encouragement  of  prosti- 
tutes as  a  "  reforming  agency  for  Mormon  youth  "  !  Mean- 
while "  co-operation "  as  a  religious  duty  is  the  doctrine 
of  the  day,  and  Gentile  trade  is  already  suffering  in 
consequence.  The  movement  is  a  very  important  one  to 
the  Territory,  for  if  carried  out  on  the  proper  princi- 
ples of  co-operation,  the  people  will  live  more  cheaply 
here  than  in  any  other  State  in  America.  As  it  is, 


152  Sinners  and  Saints. 

many  imported  articles,  thanks  to  co-operative  competition, 
are  cheaper  here  than  further  east,  and  when  the  boycotting 
is  in  full  swing  many  more  articles  will  also  come  down  in 
price,  as  the  Gentiles'  profits  will  then  be  knocked  off  the 
cost  to  the  purchaser.  Every  settlement,  big  and  little,  has 
its  "co-op.,"  and  the  elders  when  on  tour  through  the  out- 
lying hamlets  lose  -no  opportunity  for  encouraging  the 
movement  and  extending  it. 

Passing  Spanish  Fork,  ano^  its  outlying  herds  of  horses, 
we  see,  following  the  curve  of  the  lake,  Salem,  a  little  com- 
munity of  farmers  settled  around  a  spring ;  Payson,  called 
Poteetnete  in  the  old  Indian  days — after  a  chief  who  made 
life  interesting,  not  to  say  exciting,  for  the  early  settlers— 
Springlake  villa,  where  one  family  has  grown  up  into  a 
hamlet,  and  grown  out  of  it,  too,  for  they  complain  that 
they  have  not  room  enough  and  must  go  elsewhere ;  and 
Santaquin,  a  little  settlement  that  has  reached  out  its  fields 
right  a'cross  the  valley  to  the  opposite  slope  of  the  hills. 
This  was  the  spot  where  Abraham  Butterfield,  the  only 
inhabitant  of  the  place  at  the  time,  won  himself  a  name 
among  the  people  by  chasing  off  a  band  of  armed  Indians, 
who  had  surprised  him  at  his  solitary  work  in  the  fields,  by 
waving  his  coat  and  calling  out  to  imaginary  friends  in  the 
distance  to  "  Come  on."  The  Indians  were  thoroughly 
fooled,  and  fled  back  up  the  country  incontinently,  while 
Abraham  pursued  them  hotly,  brandishing  his  old  coat  with 
the  utmost  ferocity,  and  vociferously  rallying  nobody  to  the 
bloody  attack. 

Here  Mount  Nebo,  the  highest  elevation  in  the  Territory 
was  first  pointed  out  to  me — how  tired  I  got  of  it  before 
I  had  done  ! — and  through  fields  of  lucerne  we  passed 
from  the  Utah  into  the  Juab  Valley  and  an  enormous 
wilderness  of  sage-brush.  It  is  broken  here  and  there  by 


Mona.  153 


an  infrequent  patch  of  cultivation,  and  streaks  of  paling 
go  straggling  away  across  the  grey  desert.  But  without 
water  it  is  a  desperate  section,  and  the  pillars  of  dust 
moving  across  the  level,  and  marking  the  track  of  the 
sheep  that  wandered  grazing  among  the  sage,  reminded 
me  of  the  sand-wastes  of  Beluchistan,  where  nothing  can 
move  a  foot  without  raising  a  tell-tale  puff  of  dust. 

There,  the  traveller,  looking  out  from  his  own  cloud  of 
sand,  sees  similar  clouds  creeping  about  all  over  the  plain, 
judges  from  their  size  the  number  of  camels  or  horses  that  may 
be  stirring,  and  draws  his  own  conclusions  as  to  which  may 
oe  peaceful  caravans,  and  which  robber-bands.  By  taking 
advantage  of  the  wind,  the  desert  banditti  are  able  to 
advance  to  the  attack,  just  as  the  devil-fish  do  on  the  sea- 
bottom,  under  cover  of  sand-clouds  of  their  own  stirring 
up ;  and  the  first  intimation  which  the  traveller  has  of  the 
character  of  those  who  are  coming  towards  him,  is  the 
sudden  flash  of  swords  and  glitter  of  spearheads  that  light 
up  the  edges  of  the  advancing  sand,  jus-t  as  lightning  flits 
along  the  ragged  skirts  of  a  moving  thunder- cloud. 

But  here  there  are  no  Murri  or  Bhoogti  horsemen  astir, 
and  the  Indians,  Piutes  or  Navajos,  have  not  acquired 
Beluchi  tactics.  These  moving  clouds  here  are  raised  by 
loitering  sheep,  formidable  only  to  Don  Quixote  and  the 
low-nesting  ground-larks.  They  are  close  feeders,  though, 
these  sheep,  and  it  is  poor  gleaning  after  them,  so  it  is  a 
rule  throughout  the  Territory  that  on  the  hills  where  sheep 
graze,  game  need  not  be  looked  for. 

An  occasional  ranch  comes  in  sight,  and  along  the  old 
county  road  a  waggon  or  two  goes  crawling  by,  and 
then  we  reach  Mona,  a  pretty  little  rustic  spot,  but  the 
civilizing  radiance  of  corn-fields  gradually  dies  away,  and 
the  relentless  sage-brush  supervenes,  with  here  and  there  a 


154  Sinners  and  Saints. 

lucid  interval  of  ploughed  ground  in  the  midst  of  the 
demented  desert.  With  water  the  whole  valley  would  be 
superbly  fertile,  as  we  soon  see,  for  there  suddenly 
breaks  in  upon  the  monotony  of  the  weed-growths  a 
splendid  succession  of  fields,  long  expanses  of  meadow- 
land,  large  groves  of  orchards,  and  the  thriving  settlement 
of  Nephi. 

Like  all  other  prosperous  places  in  Utah,  it  is  almost 
entirely  Mormon.  There  is  one  saloon,  run  by  a  Mormon, 
but  patronized  chiefly  by  the  "  outsiders  " — for  such  is  the 
name  usually  given  to  the  "  Gentiles  "  in  the  settlement — 
and  no  police.  Local  mills  meet  local  requirements,  and 
the  "  co-op."  is  the  chief  trading  store  of  the  place.  There 
are  no  manufactures  for  export,  but  in  grain  and  fruit  there 
is  a  considerable  trade.  It  is  a  quaint,  straggling  sort  of 
place,  and,  like  all  these  settlements,  curiously  primitive. 
The  young  men  use  the  steps  of  the  co-operative  store  as  a 
lounge,  and  their  ponies,  burdened  with  huge  Mexican 
saddles  and  stirrups  that  would  do  for  dog-kennels,  stand 
hitched  to  the  palings  all  about.  The  train  stops  at  the 
corner  of  the  road  to  take  up  any  passengers  there  may 
be.  Deer  are  sometimes  killed  in  the  streets,  and  eagles 
still  harry  the  chickens  in  the  orchards.  Wild-bird 
life  is  strangely  abundant,  and  a  flock  of  "  canaries " — a 
very  beautiful  yellow  siskin — had  taken  possession  of  my 
host's  garden.  "We  do  catch  them  sometimes,"  said  his 
wife,  "  but  they  always  starve  themselves,  and  pine  away 
till  they  are  thin  enough  to  get  through  the  bars  of  the 
cage,  and  so  we  can  never  keep  them."  A  neigHbour  who 
chanced  in,  was  full  of  canary-lore,  and  I  remember  one 
incident  that  struck  me  as  very  pretty.  He  had  caught 
a  canary  and  caged  it,  but  the  bird  refused  to  be  tamed, 
and  dashed  itself  about  the  cage  in  such  a  frantic  way 


At  Nephi.  155 


that  out  of  sheer  pity  he  let  the  wild  thing  go.  A  day 
or  two  later  it  came  back,  but  with  a  mate,  and  when  the 
cage  was  hung  out  the  two  birds  went  into  captivity  to- 
gether, of  their  own  free-will,  and  lived  as  happily  as  birds 
could  live  ! 

My  host  was  a  good  illustration  of  what  Mormonism 
can  do  for  a  man.  In  Yorkshire  he  was  employed  in  a 
slaughtering-yard,  and  thought  himself  lucky  if  he  earned 
twelve  shillings  a  week.  The  Mormons  found  him,  "  con- 
verted" him,  and  emigrated  him.  He  landed  in  Utah 
without  a  cent  in  his  pocket,  and  in  debt  to  the  Church 
besides.  But  he  found  every  one  ready  to  help  him,  and 
was  ready  to  help  himself,  so  that  to-day  he  is  one  of 
the  most  substantial  men  in  Nephi,  with  a  mill  that  cost 
him  $10,000  to  put  up,  a  shop  and  a  farm,  a  house  and 
orchard  and  stock.  His  family,  four  daughters  and  a  son, 
are  all  settled  round  him  and  thriving,  thanks  to  the  aid 
he  gave  them — "  but,"  said  he,  "  if  the  Mormons  had  not 
found  me,  I  should  still  have  been  slaughtering  in  the  old 
country,  and  glad,  likely,  to  be  still  earning  my  twelve 
shillings  a  week."  Another  instance  from  the  same  settle- 
ment is  that  of  a  boy  who,  five  years  ago,  was  brought  out 
here  at  the  age  of  sixteen.  His  emigration  was  entirely 
paid  for  by  the  Church.  Yet  last  year  he  sent  home  from 
his  own  pocket  the  necessary  funds  to  bring  out  his  mother 
and  four  brothers  and  sisters  !  God  speed  these  Mormons, 
then.  They  are  doing  both  "  the  old  country  and  the 
new "  an  immense  good  in  thus  transforming  English 
paupers  into  American  farmers — and  thus  exchanging  the 
vices  and  squalor  of  English  poverty  for  the  temperance, 
piety,  and  comfort  of  these  Utah  homesteads.  I  am  not 
blind  to  their  faults.  My  aversion  to  polygamy  is  sincere, 
and  I  find  also  that  the  Mormons  must  share  with  all 


156  Sinners  and  Saints. 

agricultural  communities  the  blame  of  not  sacrificing  more 
of  their  own  present  prospects  for  the  sake  of  their  children's 
future,  and  neglecting  their  education,  both  in  school  and 
at  home.  But  when  I  remember  what  classes  of  people 
these  men  and  women  are  chiefly  drawn  from,  and  the 
utter  poverty  in  which  most  of  them  arrive,  I  cannot,  in 
sincerity,  do  otherwise  than  admire  and  respect  the  system 
which  has  fused  such  unpromising  material  of  so  many 
nationalities  into  one  homogeneous  whole. 

For  myself,  I  do  not  think  I  could  live  among  the 
Mormons  happily,  for  my  lines  have  been  cast  so  long 
in  the  centres  of  work  and  thought,  that  a  bovine  atmo- 
sphere of  perpetual  farms  suffocates  me.  I  am  afraid  I 
should  take  to  lowing,  and  feed  on  lucerne.  But  this  does 
not  prejudice  me  against  the  men  and  women  who  are 
so  unmistakably  happy.  They  are  uncultured,  from  the 
highest  to  the  lowest.  But  the  men  of  thirty  and  upwards 
remember  these  valleys  when  they  were  utter  deserts,  and 
the  Indian  was  lord  of  the  hills  !  As  little  children  they 
had  to  perform  all  the  small  duties  about  the  house,  the 
"chores,"  as  they  are  called;  as  lads  they  had  to  guard 
the  stock  on  the  hills ;  as  young  men  they  were  the  pioneers 
of  Utah.  What  else  then  could  they  be  but  ignorant — in 
the  education  of  schools,  I  mean  ?  Yet  they  are  sober  in 
their  habits,  conversation,  and  demeanour,  frugal,  indus- 
trious, hospitable,  and  God-fearing.  As  a  people,  their 
lives  are  a  pattern  to  an  immense  number  of  mankind,  and 
every  emigrant,  therefore,  taken  up  out  of  the  slums  of 
manufacturing  cities  in  the  old  countries,  or  from  the 
hideous  drudgery  of  European  agriculture,  and  planted 
in  these  Utah  valleys,  is  a  benefit  conferred  by  Mormonism 
upon  two  continents  at  once. 

To   return   to   Nephi.     I  went  to  a  "  meeting "    in   the . 


Type  of  Face  in  rural  Utah.  157 

evening,  and  to  describe  one  is  to  describe  all.  The  old 
men  and  women  sit  in  front — the  women,  as  a  rule,  all 
together  in  the  body  of  the  room,  and  the  men  at  the 
sides.  How  this  custom  originated  no  one  could  tell  me ; 
but  it  is  probably  a  survival  of  habit  from  the  old  days 
when  there  was  only  room  enough  for  the  women  to  be 
seated,  and  the  men  stood  round  against  the  walls,  and  at 
the  door.  As  larger  buildings  were  erected,  the  women, 
as  of  old,  took  their  accustomed  seats  together  in  the 
centre,  and'  the  men  filled  up  the  balance  of  the  space. 
The  oldest  being  hard  of  hearing  and  short  of  sight, 
would  naturally,  in  an  unconventional  society,  collect  at 
the  front  of  the  audience.  Looking  at  them  all  together, 
they  are  found  to  be  exactly  what  one  might  expect — a 
congregation  of  hard-featured,  bucolic  faces,  sun-tanned 
and  deep-lined.  Here  and  there  among  them  is  a  bright 
mechanic's  face,  and  here  and  there  an  unexpected  refine- 
ment of  intelligence.  But  taken  in  the  mass,  they  are 
precisely  such  a  congregation  as  fills  nine-tenths  of  the 
rural  places  of  worship  all  the  world  over.  Conspicuously 
absent,  however,  is  the  typical  American  face,  for  the 
fathers  and  mothers  among  the  Mormons  are  of  every 
nationality,  and  the  sons  and  daughters  are  a  mixture  of 
all.  In  the  future  this  race  should  be  a  very  fine  one,  for 
it  is  chiefly  recruited  from  the  hardier  stocks,  the  English, 
Scotch,  and  Scandinavian,  while  their  manner  of  life  is 
pre-eminently  fitted  for  making  them  stalwart  in  figure,  and 
sound  in  constitution. 

The  meeting  opens  with  prayer,  in  which  the  Almighty 
is  asked  for  blessings  upon  the  whole  people,  upon  each 
class  of  it,  upon  their  own  place  in  particular,  upon  all  the 
Church  authorities,  and  upon  all  friends  of  the  Mormons. 
But  never,  so  far  as  I  have  heard,  are  intercessions  made, 


158  Sinners  and  Saints. 

in  the  spirit  of  New  Testament  teaching,  for  the  enemies 
of  the  Church.  References  to  the  author  of  the  Edmunds 
Bill  are  often  very  pointed  and  vigorous.  After  the  prayer 
comes  a  hymn,  sung  often  to  a  lively  tune,  and  accompanied 
by  such  instrumental  music  as  the  settlement  can  rely 
upon,  after  which  the  elders  address  the  people  in  succes- 
sion. These  addresses  are  curiously  practical.  They  are 
temporal  rather  than  spiritual,  and  concern  themselves 
with  history,  official  acts,  personal  reminiscences,  and  agri- 
cultural matter  rather  than  points  of  mere  doctrine.  But 
as  a  fact,  temporal  and  spiritual  considerations  are  too 
closely  blended  in  Mormonism  to  be  disassociated.  Thus 
references  to  the  Edmunds  Bill  take  their  place  naturally 
among  exhortations  to  "  live  their  religion,"  and  to  "  build 
up  the  kingdom  "  in  spite  of  "  persecution."  Boycotting 
Gentile  tradesmen  is  similarly  inculcated  as  showing  a 
pious  fidelity  to  the  interests  of  the  Church.  These  are 
the  two  chief  topics  of  all  addresses,  but  a  passing  reference 
to  a  superior  class  of  waggon,  or  a  hope  that  every  one 
will  make  a  point  of  voting  in  some  coming  election,  is  not 
considered  out  of  place,  while  personal  matters,  the  health 
of  the  speaker  or  his  experiences  in  travel,  are  often  thus 
publicly  commented  upon.  The  result  is,  that  the  people 
go  away  with  some  tangible  facts  in  their  heads,  and  sub- 
jects for  ordinary  conversation  on  their  tongues,  and  not, 
as  from  other  kinds  of  religious  meetings,  with  only  gene- 
ralities about  their  souls  and  the  Ten  Commandments.  In 
other  countries  the  gabble  of  small-talk  that  immediately 
overtakes  a  congregation  let  out  of  church  sounds  very  in- 
congruous with  the  last  notes  of  the  organ  voluntary  that 
play  them  out  of  the  House  of  God.  But  here  the  people 
walking  homeward  are  able  to  continue  the  conversation  on 
exactly  the  same  lines  as  the  addresses  they  have  just 


Mormon"  Doctrine"  159 

heard,  to  renew  it  the  next  day,  to  carry  it  about  with 
them  as  conversation  from  place  to  place,  and  thus  even- 
tually to  spread  the  "doctrine"  of  the  elders  over  the 
whole  district.  A  fact  about  waggon-buying  sticks  where 
whole  sermons  about  salvation  by  faith  would  not. 


160  Sinners  and  Saints. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

FROM    NEPHI   TO   MANTI. 

English  companies  and  their  failures — A  deplorable  neglect  of  claret 
cup — Into  the  San  Pete  Valley — Reminiscences  of  the  Indians — 
The  forbearance  of  the  red  man — The  great  temple  at  Manti — 
Masonry  and  Mormon  mysteries — In  a  tithing-house. 

FROM  Nephi,  a  narrow-guage  line  runs  up  the  Salt  Creek 
Canon,  and  away  across  a  wilderness  to  a  little  mining  settle- 
ment called  Wales,  inhabited  by  Welsh  Mormons  who  work 
at  the  adjacent  coal-mines.  The  affair  belongs  to  an 
English  company,  and  it  is  worth  noting  that  "  English 
companies  "  are  considered  here  to  be  very  proper  subjects 
for  jest.  When  nobody  else  in  the  world  will  undertake  a 
hopeless  enterprise,  an  English  company  appears  to  be 
always  on  hand  to  embark  in  it,  and  this  fact  displays  a 
confidence  on  the  part  of  Americans  in  British  credulity, 
and  a  confidence  on  the  part  of  the  Britishers  in  American 
honesty,  which  ought  to  be  mutually  instructive.  Mean- 
while this  has  nothing  to  do  with  these  coal-mines  in  the 
San  Pete  Valley,  which,  for  all  I  know,  may  be  very  sound 
concerns,  and  very  profitable  to  the  "  English  company  "  in 
question.  I  hope  it  is.  The  train  was  rather  a  curious  one, 
though,  for  it  stopped  for  passengers  at  the  corner  of  the 
street,  and  when  we  got  "  aboard,"  we  found  a  baggage 
car  the  only  vehicle  provided  for  us.  A  number  of  apostles 


Wasted  Borage.  1 6 1 

and  elders  were  on  Conference  tour,  and  the  party,  therefore, 
was  a  large  one ;  so  that,  if  the  driver  had  been  an  enthusiastic 
anti-Mormon,  he  might  have  struck  a  severe  blow  at  the 
Church  by  tilting  us  off  the  rails.  The  Salt  Creek  Canon 
is  not  a  prepossessing  one,  but  there  grew  in  it  an  abundance 
of  borage,  the  handsome  blue  heads  of  flowers  showing 
from  among  the  undergrowth  in  large  patches. 

What  a  waste  of  borage!  Often  have  I  deplored 
over  my  claret  in  India  the  absence  of  this  estimable 
vegetable,  and  here  in  Utah  with  a  perfect  jungle  of  borage 
all  about  me,  I  had  no  claret !  I  pointed  out  to  the  apostles 
with  us  that  temperance  in  such  a  spot  was  flying  in  the 
face  of  providence,  and  urged  them  to  plant  vineyards  in 
the  neighbourhood.  But  they  were  not  enthusiastic,  and 
I  relapsed  into  silent  contemplation  over  the  incredible 
ways  of  nature,  that  she  should  thus  cast  her  pearls  of 
borage  before  a  community  of  teetotallers. 

Traversing  the  canon,  we  enter  San  Pete  Valley,  memo- 
rable for  the  Indian  War  of  1865-67,  but  in  itself  as  desolate 
and  uninteresting  a  tract  of  country  as  anything  I  have 
ever  seen.  Ugly  bald  hills  and  leprous  sand-patches  in  the 
midst  of  sage-brush,  combined  to  form  a  landscape  of 
utter  dreariness ;  and  the  little  settlements  lying  away  under 
the  hills  on  the  far  eastern  edge  of  the  valley — Fountain 
Green,  Maroni,  and  Springtown — seemed  to  me  more  like 
penal  settlements  than  voluntary  locations.  Yet  I  am  told 
they  are  pretty  enough,  and  certainly  Mount  Pleasant,  the 
largest  settlement  in  the  San  Pete  country,  looked  as  if  it 
deserved  its  name.  But  it  stands  back  well  out  of  the 
desperate  levels  of  the  valley,  and  its  abundant  foliage 
tells  of  abundant  water.  A  pair  of  eagles  circled  high  up 
in  the  sky  above  us  as  we  rattled  along,  expecting  us 
apparently  to  die  by  the  way,  and  hoping  to  be  our  under- 

M 


1 62  Sinners  and  Saints. 

takers.  A  solitary  coyote  was  pointed  out  to  me,  a  lean 
and  uncared-for  person,  that  kept  looking  back  over  its 
shoulder  as  it  trotted  away,  as  if  it  had  a  lingering  sort  of 
notion  that  a  defunct  apostle  might  by  chance  be  thrown 
overboard.  It  was  a  hungry  and  a  thirsty  looking  country, 
and  Wales,  where  we  left  our  train,  was  a  dismal  spot. 
Here  we  found  waggons  waiting  for  us,  and  were  soon  on 
our  way  acro.ss  the  desert,  passing  a  settlement-oasis  now 
and  again,  and  crossing  the  San  Pete  "  river,"  which  here 
sneaks  along,  a  muddy,  shallow  stream,  at  the  bottom  of 
high,  willow-fringed  banks.  And  so  to  Fort  Ephraim,  a 
quaint  little  one-street  sort  of  place  that  looks  up  to  Manti, 
a  few  miles  off,  as  a  little  boy  looks  up  to  his  biggest 
brother,  and  to  Salt  Lake  City  as  a  cat  might  look  up  to  a 
king. 

In  1865-67,  however,  it  was  an  important  point. 
Several  companies  of  the  Mormon  militia  were  mustered 
here,  and  held  the  mountains  and  passes  on  the  east 
against  the  Indians,  guarded  the  stock  gathered  here  from 
the  other  small  settlements  that  had  been  abandoned,  and 
took  part  in  the  fights  at  Thistle  Creek,  Springtown,  Fish 
Lake,  Twelve  Mile  Creek  Gravelly  Ford,  and  the  rest,  where 
Black  Hawk  and  his  flying  squadron  of  Navajos  and  Piutes 
showed  themselves  such  plucky  men.  It  is  a  pity,  I  think, 
that  the  history  of  that  three  years'  campaign  has  never 
been  sketched,  for,  as  men  talk  of  it,  it  must  have  abounded 
with  stirring  incident  and  romance.  Besides,  a  well-written 
history  of  such  a  campaign,  with  the  lessons  it  teaches, 
might  be  useful  some  day — for  the  fighting  spirit  of  the 
Indians  is  not  broken,  and  when  another  Black  Hawk 
appears  upon  the  scene,  ^865  might  easily  be  re-enacted,  and 
Fort  Ephraim  once  more  be  transformed  from  a  farming 
hamlet  to  a  military  camp. 


Mormon  and  Red  Man.  163 

Yet  I  have  often  wondered  at  the  apathy  or  the  friend- 
ship of  the  Indians.  Herds  of  cattle  and  horses  and  sheep 
wander  about  among  the  mountains  virtually  unguarded. 
Little  villages  full  of  grain,  and  each  with  its  store  well 
stocked  with  sugar,  and  tobacco,  and  cloths,  and  knives, 
and  other  things  that  the  Indians  prize,  lie  almost  defence- 
less at  the  mouths  of  canons.  Yet  they  have  not  been 
molested  for  the  last  fifteen  years.  I  confess  that  if  I  were 
an  Indian  chief,  I  should  not  be  able  to  resist  the  tempta- 
tion of  helping  my  tribe  to  an  occasional  surfeit  of  beef, 
with  the  amusement  thrown  in  of  plundering  a  co-operative 
store.  But  the  Mormons  say  that  the  Indian  is  more  honest 
than  a  white  man  and,  in  illustration  of  this,  are  ready  to 
give  innumerable  instances  of  an  otherwise  inexplicable 
chivalry.  For  one  thing,  though,  the  Mormons  are  looked 
upon  by  the  Indians  in  quite  a  different  light  to  other 
Americans,  for  they  consider  them  to  be  victims,  like  them- 
selves, of  Federal  dislike,  while  both  as  individuals  and 
a  class  they  hold  them  in  consideration  as  being  superior 
to  Agents  in  fidelity  to  engagements.  So  that  the  compli- 
ment of  honesty  is  mutually  reciprocated.  To  illustrate 
this  aspect  of  the  Mormon-Indian  relations,  some  Indians 
came  the  other  day  into  a  settlement,  and  engaged  in  a  very 
protracted  pow-wow,  the  upshot  of  all  their  roundabout 
palaver  being  this,  that  inasmuch  as  they,  the  Indians,  had 
given  Utah  to  the  Mormons,  it  was  preposterous  for  the 
Mormons  to  pay  the  Government  for  the  land  they  took 
up! 

From  Fort  Ephraim  to  Manti  the  road  lies  chiefly  through 
unreclaimed  land,  but  within  a  mile  or  two  of  the  town  the 
irrigated  suburbs  of  Manti  break  in  upon  the  sage-brush, 
and  the  Temple,  which  has  been  visible  in  the  distance 
half  the  day,  grows  out  from  the  hills  into  definite  details. 

M  2 


1 64  Sinners  and  Saints. 

The  site  of  this  imposing  structure  certainly  surprised  me 
both  for  the  fine  originality  of  its  conception,  and  the 
artistic  sympathy  with  the  surrounding  scenery,  which  has 
directed  its  erection.  The  site  originally  was  a  rugged  hill 
slope,  but  this  has  been  cut  out  into  three  vast  semicircular 
terraces,  each  of  which  is  faced  with  a  wall  of  rough  hewn 
stone,  seventeen  feet  in  height.  Ascending  these  by  wide 
flights  of  steps,  you  find  yourself  on  a  fourth  level,  the  hill 
top,  which  has  been  levelled  into  a  spacious  plateau,  and  on 
this,  with  its  back  set  against  the  hill,  stands  the  temple. 
The  style  of  Mormon  architecture,  unfortunately,  is  heavy 
and  unadorned,  and  in  itself,  therefore,  this  massive  pile, 
1 60  feet  in  length  by  90  wide,  and  about  100  high,  is  not 
prepossessing,  But  when  it  is  finished,  and  the  terrace 
slopes  are  turfed,  and  the  spaces  planted  out  with  trees,  the 
view  will  undoubtedly  be  very  fine,  and  the  temple  be  a 
building  that  the  Mormons  may  well  be  proud  of.  Looked 
at  from  the  plain,  with  the  stern  hills  behind  it,  the  edifice 
is  seen  to  be  in  thoroughly  artistic  harmony  with  the 
scene,  while  the  enormous  expenditure  of  labour  upon  its 
erection  is  a  matter  for  astonishment.  The  plan  of  the 
building  inside  differs  from  those  of  the  temples  at  Logan, 
St.  George,  and  Salt  Lake  City,  which  again  differ  from 
each  other,  for  it  is  a  curious  fact  that  the  ritual  of  the 
secret  ceremonies  to  which  these  buildings  are  chiefly 
devoted,  is  still  under  elaboration  and  imperfect,  so  that 
each  temple  in  turn  partially  varies  from  its  predecessor, 
to  suit  the  latest  alterations  made  in  the  Endowments  and 
other  rites  celebrated  within  its  walls.  In  my  description 
of  the  Logan  Temple,  I  gave  a  sketch  of  the  purposes  for 
which  the  various  parts  of  the  building  were  intended. 
That  sketch,  of  course,  cannot  pretend  to  be  exact,  for  only 
those  Mormons  who  have  "  worked  "  through  the  degrees 


Temple  Mysteries.  165 

can  tell  the  whole  truth ;  and  as  yet  no  one  has  divulged 
it  But  with  a  general  knowledge  of  the  rites,  and  an 
intimate  acquaintance  with  freemasonry,  I  have,  I  believe, 
put  together  the  only  reliable  outline  that  has  ever  been 
published.  The  Manti  temple  will  have  the  same  arrange- 
ments of  baptismal  font  and  dressing-rooms  on  the  ground 
floor,  but  as  well  as  I  could  judge  from  the  unfinished  state 
of  the  building,  the  "  endowments,"  in  the  course  of  which 
are  symbolical  representations  of  the  Creation,  Temptation 
and  Fall,  will  be  spread  over  two  floors,  the  apartment  for 
"  baptism  for  the  dead  "  occupying  a  place  on  the  lower. 
The  " sealing"  is  performed  on  the  third.  I  have  an  objec- 
tion to  prying  into  matters  which  the  Mormons  are  so 
earnest  in  keeping  secret,  but  as  a  mason,  the  connexion 
between  Masonry  and  Mormonism  is  too  fascinating  a 
subject  for  me  to  resist  curiosity  altogether. 

As  a  settlement,  Manti  is  pretty,  well-ordered  and  pro- 
sperous. The  universal  vice  of  unbridged  water-courses 
disfigures  its  roads  just  as  it  does  those  of  every  other  place 
(Salt  Lake  City  itself  not  excepted),  and  the  irregularity  in 
the  order  of  occupation  of  lots  gives  it_  the  same  scattered 
appearance  that  many  other  settlements  have.  But  the 
abundance  of  trees,  the  width  of  the  streets,  the  perpetual 
presence  of  running  water,  the  frequency  and  size  of  the 
orchards,  and  the  general  appearance  of  simple,  rustic,  com- 
fort impart  to  Manti  all  the  characteristic  charm  of  the 
Mormon  settlements.  The  orthodox  grist  and  saw-mills, 
essential  adjuncts  of  every  outlying  hamlet,  find  their  usual 
place  in  the  local  economy;  but  to  me  the  most  interesting 
corner  was  the  quaint  tithing-house,  a  Dutch-barn  kind 
of  place,  still  surrounded  by  the  high  stone  stockade  which 
was  built  for  the  protection  of  the  settlers  during  the  Indian 
troubles  fifteen  years  ago.  Inside  the  tithing-house  were 


1 66  Sinners  and  Saints. 

two  great  bins  half  filled  with  wheat  and  oats,  and  a  few 
bundles  of  wool.  I  had  expected  to  find  a  miscellaneous 
confusion  of  articles  of  all  kinds,  but  on  inquiry  discovered 
that  the  popular  theory  of  Mormon  tithing,  "a  tenth  of 
everything," — "  even  to  the  tenth  of  every  egg  that  is  laid," 
as  a  Gentile  lady  plaintively  assured  me,  is  not  carried 
out  in  practice,  the  majority  of  Mormons  allowing 
their  tithings  to  run  into  arrears,  and  then  paying  them 
up  in  a  lump  in  some  one  staple  article,  vegetable  or 
animal,  that  happens  to  be  easiest  for  them.  The  tenth 
of  their  eggs  or  their  currant  jam  does  not,  therefore,  as 
supposed,  form  part  of  the  rigid  annual  tribute  of  these 
degraded  serfs  to  their  grasping  masters.  As  a  matter  of 
fact,  indeed,  the  payment  of  tithings  is  as  nearly  voluntary 
as  the  collection  of  a  revenue  necessary  for  carrying  on  a 
government  can  possibly  be  allowed  to  be.  What  it  may 
have  been  once,  is  of  no  importance  now.  But  to-day,  so 
far  from  there  being  any  undue  coercion,  I  have  amply 
assured  myself  that  there  is  extreme  consideration  and 
indulgence,  while  the  general  prosperity  of  the  territory 
justifies  the  leniency  that  prevails. 


The  Jansens  and  Peter  sens.  167 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

FROM    MANTI   TO    GLENWOOD. 

Scandinavian  Mormons — Danish  61 — Among  the  orchards  at  Manti 
— On  the  way  to  Conference — Adam  and  Eve — The  protoplasm 
of  a  settlement — Ham  and  eggs — At  Mayfield— Our  teamster's 
theory  of  the  ground-hog — On  the  way  to  GlenVood — Volcanic 
phenomena  and  lizards — A  suggestion  for  improving  upon  Nature 
— Primitive  Art 

"  MY  hosts  at  Manti  were  Danes,  and  the  wife  brewed 
Danish  61."  Such  is  the  entry  in  my  note-book,  made,  I 
remember,  to  remind  me  to  say  that  the  San  Pete  settle- 
ments are  composed  in  great  proportion  of  Danes  and 
Scandinavians.  These  nationalities  contribute  more  largely 
than  any  other — unless  Great-Britishers  are  all  called  one 
nation — to  the  recruiting  of  Mormonism,  and  when  they 
reach  Utah  maintain  their  individuality  more  conspicuously 
than  any  others.  The  Americans,  Welsh,  Scotch,  English, 
Germans,  and  Swiss,  merge  very  rapidly  into  one  blend,  but 
the  Scandinavian  type — and  a  very  fine  peasant  type  it  is — 
is  clearly  marked  in  the  settlements  where  the  Hansens  and 
the  Jansens,  Petersens,  Christiansens,  Nielsens,  and  Soren- 
sens,  most  do  congregate.  By  the  way,  some  of  these 
Norse  names  sound  very  curiously  to  the  ear.  "  Ole  Hagg  " 
might  be  thought  to  be  a  nickname  rather  than  anything 
else,  and  Lars  Nasquist  Brihl  at  best  a  joke.  Their  children 
are  remarkably  pretty,  and  the  women  models  of  thriftiness. 


1 68  Sinners  and  Saints. 

My  hostess  at  Manti  was  a  pattern.  She  made  pies 
under  an  inspiration;  and  her  chicken-pie  was  a  distinct 
revelation.  Her  "beer"  was  certainly  a  beverage  that  a 
man  might  deny  himself  quite  cheerfully,  but  to  eat  her 
preserves  was  like  listening  to  beautiful  parables,  and  her 
cream  cheese  gave  the  same  gentle  pleasure  as  the  singing 
of  thankful  canticles. 

In  the  garden  was  an  arbour  overrun  with  a  wild  grape- 
vine, and  I  took  my  pen  and  ink  in  there  to  write.  All 
went  well  for  a  while.  An  amiable  cat  came  and  joined  me, 
sitting  in  a  comfortable  cushion-sort  of  fashion  on  the  corner 
of  my  blotting-pad.  But  while  we  sat  there  writing,  the 
cat  and  I,  thefe  came  a  humming-bird  into  the  arbour — a 
little  miracle  in  feathers,  with  wings  all  emeralds  and  a 
throat  of  ruby.  And  it  sat  in  the  sunlight  on  a  vine-twig 
that  straggled  out  across  the  door,  and  began  to  preen  its 
tiny  feathers.  I  stopped  writing  to  watch  the  beautiful 
thing.  And  so  did  the  cat.  For  happening  to  look  down  at 
the  table  I  saw  the  cat,  with  a  fiendish  expression  of  face 
and  her  eyes  intent  on  the  bird,  gathering  her  hind  legs 
together  for  a  spring.  To  give  the  cat  a  smack  on  the  head, 
and  for  the  cat  to  vanish  with  an  explosion  of  ill-temper, 
"  was  the  work  of  an  instant."  The  humming-bird  flashed 
out  into  the  garden,  and  I  was  left  alone  to  mop  up  the  ink 
which  the  startled  cat  had  spilt.  Then  I  went  out  and 
wandered  across  the  garden,  where  English  flowers,  the 
sweet-william  and  columbine,  pinks  and  wallflowers,  pansies 
and  iris,  were  growing,  under  the  fruit-trees  still  bunched 
with  blossoms,  and  out  into  the  street.  Friends  asked  me 
if  I  wasn't  going  to  "  the  conference,"  but  I  had  not  the 
heart  to  go  inside  when  the  world  out  of  doors  was  so 
inviting.  There  was  a  cool,  green  tint  in  the  shade  of  the 
orchards,  pleasant  with  the  voices  of  birds  and  dreamy  with 


Primitive  Life.  169 

the  humming  of  bees.  There  was  nobody  else  about,  only 
children  making  posies  of  apple-blossoms  and  launching  blue 
boats  of  iris-petals  on  the  little  roadside  streams.  Everybody 
was  "  at  conference,"  and  those  that  could  not  get  into  the 
building  were  grouped  outside  among  the  waggons  of  the 
country  folk  who  had  come  from  a  distance.  These  con- 
ferences are  held  quarterly  (so  that  the  lives  of  the  Apostles 
who  preside  at  them  are  virtually  spent  in  travelling)  and 
at  them  everything  is  discussed,  whether  of  spiritual  or 
temporal  interest  and  a  general  balance  struck,  financially 
and  religiously.  In  character  they  resemble  the  ordinary 
meetings  of  the  Mormons,  being  of  exactly  the  same  curious 
admixture  of  present  farming  and  future  salvation,  business 
advice  and  pious  exhortation. 

Everybody  who  can  do  so,  attends  these  meetings ;  and 
they  fulfil,  therefore,  all  the  purposes  of  the  Oriental  mela. 
Farmers,  stock-raisers,  and  dealers  generally,  meet  from  a 
distance  and  talk  over  business  matters,  open  negotiations 
and  settle  bargains,  exchange  opinions  and  discuss  prospects. 
Their  wives  and  families,  such  of  them  as  can  get  away 
from  their  homes,  foregather  and  exchange  their  domestic 
news,  while  everybody  lays  in  a  fresh  supply  of  spiritual 
refreshment  for  the  coming  three  months,  and  hears  the 
latest  word  of  the  Church  as  to  the  Edmunds  Bill  and 
Gentile  tradesmen.  The  scene  is  as  primitive  and  quaint 
as  can  be  imagined,  for  in  rural  Utah  life  is  still  rough  and 
hearty  and  simple.  To  the  stranger,  the  greetings  of  family 
groups,  with  the  strange  flavour  of  the  Commonwealth  days, 
the  wonderful  Scriptural  or  apocryphal  names,  and  the  old- 
fashioned  salutation,  are  full  of  picturesque  interest,  while  the 
meetings  of  waggons  filled  with  acquaintances  from  remote 
corners  of  the  country,  the  confusion  of  European  dialects 
— imagine  hearing  pure  Welsh  among  the  San  Pete  sage- 


1 70  Sinners  and  Saints. 

brush ! — the  unconventional  cordiality  of  greeting,  are 
delightful  both  in  an  intellectual  and  artistic  sense. 

I  have  travelled  much,  and  these  social  touches  have 
always  had  a  charm  for  me,  let  them  be  the  demure  reunions 
of  Creoles  sous  les  filaos  in  Mauritius  ;  or  the  French  negroes 
chattering  as  they  go  to  the  baths  in  Bourbon ;  the  deep- 
drinking  convivialities  of  the  Planters'  Club  in  Ceylon  ;  the 
grinning,  prancing,  rencontres  of  Kaffir  and  Kaffir,  or  the 
stolid  collision  of  Boer  waggons  on  the  African  veldt ;  the. 
stately  meeting  of  camel-riding  Beluchis  on  the  sandy//// 
of  Khelat;  the  jingling  ox-drawn  ekkas  foregathered  to 
"  bukh  "  under  the  tamarind-trees  of  Bengal ;  the  reserved 
salutations  of  Hindoos  as  they  squat  by  the  roadside  to 
discuss  the  invariable  lawsuit  and  smoke  the  inevitable  hub- 
ble-bubble; the  noisy  congregation  of  Somali  boatmen 
before  their  huts  on  the  sun-smitten  shores  of  Aden  ; — what  a 
number  of  reminiscences  I  could  string  together  of  social 
traits  in  various  parts  of  the  world  !  And  these  Mormon 
peasants,  pioneers  of  the  West,  these  hardy  sons  of  hardy 
sires,  will  be  as  interesting  to  me  in  the  future  as  any  others, 
and  my  remembrance  of  them  will  be  one  of  admiration  for 
their  unfashionable  virtues  of  industry  and  temperance,  and 
of  gratitude  for  their  simple  courtesy  and  their  cordial 
hospitality. 

As  we  left  Manti  behind  us,  the  waggons  "  coming  into 
conference "  got  fewer  and  fewer,  and  soon  we  found  our- 
selves out  alone  upon  the  broad  levels  of  the  valley,  with 
nothing  to  keep  us  company  but  a  low  range  of  barren  hills 
that  did  their  best  to  break  the  monotony  of  the  landscape. 
In  places,  the  ground  was  white  with  desperate  patches  of 
"  saleratus,"  the  saline  efflorescence  with  which  agriculture 
in  this  Territory  is  for  ever  at  war,  and  resembling  in 
appearance,  taste,  and  effects  the  "  reh "  of  the  Gangetic 


Adam  and  Eve.  171 


plains.  Here,  as  in  India,  irrigation  is  the  only  known 
antidote,  and  once  wash  it  out  of  the  soil  and  get  crops 
growing  and  the  enemy  retires.  But  as  soon  as  cultivation 
ceases  or  irrigation  slackens,  the  white  infection  creeps 
over  the  ground  again,  and  if  undisturbed  for  a  year 
resumes  possession.  How  unrelenting  Nature  is  in  her 
conflict  with  man ! 

We  passed  some  warm  springs  a  few  miles  from  Manti, 
but  the  water  though  slightly  saline  is  inodorous,  and  on 
the  patches  which  they  water  I  saw  the  wild  flax  growing 
as  if  it  enjoyed  the  temperature  and  the  soil.  Then  Six- 
Mile  Creek,  a  pleasant  little  ravine,  crossed  by  a  rustic 
bridge,  which  gives  water  for  a  large  tract  o£  land,  and  so 
to  Sterling,  a  settlement  as  yet  in  its  cradle,  and  curiously 
illustrative  of  "  the  beginning  of'  things  "  in  rural  Utah. 
One  man  and  his  one  wife  up  on  the  hillside  doing  some- 
thing to  the  water,  one  cock  and  one  hen  pecking  together 
in  monogamous  sympathy,  one  dog  sitting  at  the  door  of  a 
one-roomed  log-hut.  Everything  was  in  the  Adam  and 
Eve  stage  of  society,  and  primeval.  So  Deucalion  and 
Pyrrha  had  the  earth  to  themselves,  and  the  "rooster" 
stalked  before  his  mate  as  if  he  was  the  first  inventor  of 
posterity.  But  much  of  this  country  is  going  to  come 
under  the  plough  in  time,  for  there  is  water,  and  in  the  mean- 
time, as  giving  promise  of  a  future  with  some  children  in  it, 
there  is  a  school-house — an  instance  of  forethought  which 
gratified  me. 

The  country  now  becomes  undulating,  remaining  for  the 
most  part  a  sterile-looking  waste  of  grease-wood,  but  having 
an  almost  continuous  thread  of  cultivation  running  along 
the  centre  of  the  valley  which,  a  few  miles  further  on, 
suddenly  widens  into  a  great  field  of  several  thousand  acres. 
On  the  other  side  of  it  we  found  Mayfield. 


172  Sinners  and  Saints. 

In  Mayfield  every  one  was  gone  to  the  Conference 
except  a  pretty  girl,  left  to  look  after  all  the  children 
of  the  village,  and  who  resisted  our  entreaties  for  hos- 
pitality with  a  determination  that  would  have  been  more 
becoming  in  an  uglier  person — and  an  old  lady,  left  under 
the  protection  of  a  big  blind  dog  and  a  little  bobtailed  calf. 
She  received  us  with  the  honest  courtesy  universal  in  the 
Territory,  showed  us  where  to  put  our  horses  and  where 
the  lucerne  was  stacked,  and  apologized  to  us  for  having 
nothing  better  than  eggs  and  ham  to  offer  ! 

Fancy  nothing  better  than  eggs  and  ham  !  To  my  mind 
there  is  nothing  in  all  travelling  so  delightful  as  these  eggs- 
and-ham  interruptions  that  do  duty  for  meals.  Not  only  is 
the  viand  itself  so  agreeable,  but  its  odour  when  cooking 
creates  an  appetite. 

What  a  moral  there  is  here  !  We  have  all  heard  of  the 
beauty  of  the  lesson  that  those  flowers  teach  us  which  give 
forth  their  sweetest  fragrance  when  crushed.  But  I  think  the 
conduct  of  eggs  and  ham,  that  thus  create  an  appetite  in 
order  to  increase  man's  pleasure  in  their  own  consumption, 
is  attended  with  circumstances  of  "good  taste  that  are 
unusually  pleasing. 

In  our  hostess's  house  at  Mayfield  I  saw  for  the  first 
time  the  ordinary  floor-covering  of  the  country  through 
which  we  subsequently  travelled — a  "  rag-carpet."  It  is 
probably  common  all  over  the  world,  but  it  was  quite  new 
to  me.  I  discussed  its  composition  one  day  with  a  mother 
and  her  daughter. 

"  This  streak  here  is  Jimmy's  old  pants,  and  that  darker 
one  is  a  military  overcoat.  This  is  daddy's  plush  vest. 
This  bit  of  the  pattern  is—" 

"  No,  mother,  that's  your  old  jacket-back ;  don't  you 
remember  ?  " — and  so  on  all  through  the  carpet. 


Rag-carpet.  173 


Every  stripe  in  it  had  an  association,  and  the  story  of  the 
whole  was  pretty  nearly  the  story  of  their  entire  lives  in  the 
country. 

"  For  it  took  us  seven  years  to  get  together  just  this  one 
strip  of  carpet.  We  folks  haven't  much,  you  see,  that's  fit 
to  tear  up." 

I  like  the  phrase  "  fit  to  tear  up,"  and  wonder  when,  in 
the  opinion  of  this  frugal  people,  anything  does  become 
suitable  for  destruction.  But  it  is  hardly  destruction  after  all 
to  turn  old  clothes  into  carpets,  and  the  process  is  as  simple 
as,  in  fact  is  identical  with,  ordinary  hand- weaving.  The  cloth 
is  simply  shredded  into  very  narrow  strips,  and  each  strip 
is  treated  in  the  loom  just  as  if  it  were  ordinary  yarn,  the 
result  being,  by  a  judicious  alternation  of  tints,  a  very 
pleasant-looking  and  very  durable  floor-cloth.  Rag-rugs 
are  also  made  on  a  foundation  of  very  coarse  canvas  by 
drawing  very  narrow  shreds  of  rag  through  the  spaces  of 
the  canvas,  fastening  them  on  the  reverse  side,  and  cutting 
them  off  to  a  uniform  "  pile  "  on  the  upper.  In  one  cottage  at 
Salina  I  remember  seeing  a  rug  of  this  kind  in  which  the 
girl  had  drawn  her  own  pattern  and  worked  in  the  colours 
with  a  distinct  appreciation  of  true  artistic  effect.  An  in- 
dustrial exhibition  for  such  products  would,  I  have  no 
doubt,  bring  to  light  a  great  many  out-of-the-way  handi- 
crafts which  these  emigrant  people  have  brought  with  them 
from  the  different  parts  of  Europe,  and  with  which  they  try 
to  adorn  their  simple  homes. 

Our  teamster  from  Mayfield  to  Glenwood,  the  next  stage 
of  my  southward  journey,  was  a  very  cautious  person.  He 
would  not  hurry  his  horses  down  hill  — they  were  "  belike  " 
to  stumble  ;  and  he  would  not  hurry  them  up  hill — it 
"fretted"  them.  On  the  level  intervals  he  stopped 
altogether,  to  "  breathe  "  them.  It  transpired  eventually 


1 74  Sinners  and  Saints. 

that  they  were  plough  horses.  I  suspected  it  from  the  first 
And  from  his  driving  I  suspected  that  he  was  the  plough- 
man. In  other  respects  he  was  a  very  desirable  teamster. 

His  remarks  about  Europe  (he  had  once  been  to  Chicago 
himself)  were  very  entertaining,  and  his  theory  of  "  ground 
hogs"  would  have  delighted  Darwin.  As  far  as  I  could 
follow  him,  all  animals  were  of  one  species,  the  differences 
as  to  size  and  form  being  chiefly  accidents  of  age  or  sex. 
This,  at  any  rate,  was  my  induction  from  his  description  of 
the  "ground  hog,"  which  he  said  was  a  "  kind  of  squirrel — 
like  the  prairie  dog  !  "  As  he  said,  there  were  "  quite  a 
few  "  ground  hogs,  but  they  moved  too  fast  among  the  brush 
for  me  to  identify  them.  As  far  as  I  could  tell,  though, 
they  were  of  the  marmot  kind,  about  nine  inches  long,  with 
very  short  tails  and  round  small  ears.  When  they  were  at 
a  safe  distance  they  would  stand  up  at  full  length  on  their 
hind  legs,  the  colouring  underneath  being  lighter  than  on 
the  back.  What  are  they?  I  have  seen  none  in  Utah 
except  on  these  volcanic  stretches  of  country  between 
Salina  and  Monroe. 

Much  of  Utah  is  volcanic,  but  here,  beyond  Salina,  huge 
mounds  of  scoriae,  looking  like  heaps  of  slag  from  some 
gigantic  furnace,  are  piled  up  in  the  centre  of  the  level 
ground,  while  in  other  places  circular  depressions  in  the 
soil — sometimes  fifty  feet  in  diameter  and  lowest  in  the 
centre,  with  deep  fissures  defining  the  circumference—  seem 
to  mark  the  places  whence  the  scoriae  had  been  drawn,  and 
the  earth  had  sunk  in  upon  the  cavities  thus  exhausted. 

The  two  sides  of  the  river  (the  Sevier)  were  in  striking 
contrast.  On  this,  the  eastern,  was  desolation  and  stone 
heaps  and  burnt-up  spaces  with  ant-hills  and  lizards. 

Nothing  makes  a  place  look  (to  me  at  least)  so  hot  as 
an  abundance  of  lizards.  They  are  associated  in  memory 


Along  the  Sevier.  175 

with  dead,  still  heat,  "  the  intolerable  calor  of  Mambre," 
the  sun-smitten  cinder-heap  that  men  call  Aden,  the  stifling 
hillsides  of  Italy  where  the  grapes  lie  blistering  in  the 
autumn  sun,  the  desperate  suburbs  of  Alexandria — what 
millions  of  scorched-looking  lizards,  detestable  little  sala- 
manders, used  to  bask  upon  Cleopatra's  Needles  when  they 
lay  at  full  length  among  the  sand  ! — the  heat-cracked  fields 
of  India.  I  know  very  well  that  there  are  lizards  and 
lizards  ;  that  they  might  be  divided — as  the  Hindoo  divides 
everything,  whether  victuals  or  men's  characters,  medicines 
or  the  fates  the  gods  send  him — into  "hot"  and  "cold'* 
lizards.  The  salamander  itself,  according  to  the  ancients, 
was  icy  cold.  But  this  does  not  matter.  All  lizards  make 
places  look  hot. 

On  the  other  side  of  the  river,  a  favourite  raiding-ground 
of  "  Mr.  Indian,"  as  the  settlers  pleasantly  call  him,  lies 
Aurora,  a  settlement  in  the  centre  of  a  rich  tract  of  red  wheat 
soil  with  frequent  growths  of  willow  and  buffalo-berry  (or 
bull-berry  or  red-berry  or  "  kichi-michi  ")  marking  the  course 
of  the  Sevier. 

But  our  road  soon  wound  down  by  a  "  dug  way  "  to  the 
bottom-lands,  and  we  found  ourselves  on  level  meadows 
clumped  with  shrubs  and  patched  with  corn-fields,  and 
among  scattered  knots  of  grazing  cattle  and  horses.  Over- 
head circled  several  pairs  of  black  hawks,  a  befitting 
reminder  to  the  dwellers  on  these  Thessalian  fields,  these 
Campanian  pastures,  that  Scythian  Piutes  and  Navajo 
Attilas  might  at  any  time  swoop  down  upon  them. 

But  the  forbearance  of  the  Indian  in  the  matter  of  beef  and 
mutton  is  inexplicable — and  most  inexplicable  of  all  in  the 
case  of  lamb,  seeing  that  mint  grows  wild.  This  is  a  very 
pleasing  illustration  of  the  happiness  of  results  when  man  and 
nature  work  cordially  together.  The  lamb  gambols  about 


1 76  Sinners  and  Saints. 

among  beds  of  mint !  What  a  becoming  sense  of  the  fitness 
of  things  that  would  be  that  should  surprise  the  innocent 
thing  in  its  fragrant  pasture  and  serve  up  the  two  together ! 
"  They  were  pleasant  in  their  lives,  and  in  death  they  were 
not  divided."  And  what  a  delightful  field  for  similar  efforts 
such  a  spectacle  opens  up  to  the  philosophic  mind  !  Here, 
beyond  Aurora,  as  we  wind  in  and  out  among  the  brakes 
of  willow  and  rose-bush,  we  catch  glimpses  of  the  river,  with 
ducks  riding  placidly  at  anchor  in  the  shadows  of  the  foliage. 
And  not  a  pea  in  the  neighbourhood  !  Now,  why  not  sow 
green  peas  along  the  banks  of  the  American  rivers  and 
lakes  ?  How  soothing  to  the  weary  traveller  would  be  this 
occasional  relief  of  canard  aux  petits  pois  1 

After  an  interval  of  pretty  river  scenery  we  found  our- 
selves once  more  in  a  dismal,  volcanic  country  with  bald 
hills  and  leprous  sand- patches  the  only  features  of  the 
landscape,  with  lizards  for  flowers  and  an  exasperating 
heat-drizzle  blurring  the  outlines  of  everything  with  its 
quivering  refraction.  And  then,  after  a  few  miles  of  this, 
we  are  suddenly  in  the  company  of  really  majestic  mountains, 
some  of  them  cedared  to  the  peaks,  others  broken  up  into 
splendid  architectural  designs  of  almost  inconceivable 
variety,  richly  tinted  and  fantastically  grouped.  How 
wealthy  this  range  must  be  in  mineral !  In  front  of  us, 
above  all  the  intervening  hills,  loomed  out  a  monster 
mountain,  and  turning  one  of  its  spurs  we  break  all  at  once 
upon  the  village  of  Glenwood-  a  beautiful  cluster  of  foliage 
with  skirts  of  rneadow-land  spread  out  all  about  it — lying  at 
the  foot  of  the  huge  slope. 

Near  Glenwood  is  an  interesting  little  lake  that  I  visited. 
Its  water  is  exquisitely  clear  and  very  slightly  warm.  Though 
less  than  a  foot  deep  in  most  places  (it  has  one  pool  twelve 
feet  in  depth),  it  never  freezes,  in  spite  of  the  intense  cold  at 


Indian  Hieroglyphics.  177 

this  altitude.  It  is  stacked  with  trout  that  do  not  grow  to 
any  size,  but  which  do  not  on  the  other  hand  seem  to 
diminish  in  numbers,  although  the  consumption  is  consider- 
able. The  botany  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the  lake  is  very 
interesting,  the  larkspur,  lupin,  mimulus}  violet,  heart's-ease, 
ox-eye,  and  several  other  familiar  plants  of  English  gardens, 
growing  wild,  while  a  strongly  tropical  flavour  is  given  to 
the  vegetation  by  the  superb  footstools  of  cactus  —  imagine 
sixty-one  brilliant  scarlet  blossoms  on  a  cushion  only  fifteen 
inches  across  ! — by  the  presence  of  a  gorgeous  oriole  (the 
body  a  pure  yellow  freaked  with  black  on  the  wings,  and 
the  head  and  neck  a  rich  orange),  and  by  a  large  butterfly 
of  a  clear  flame- colour  with  the  upper  wings  sharply  hooked- 
at  the  tips.  Flower,  bird,  and  insect  were  all  in  keeping 
with  the  Brazils  or  the  Malayan  Archipelago. 

On  a  rock,  close  by  the  grist-mill,  is  the  only  specimen 
of  the  much-talked-of  Indian  "  hieroglyphics  "  that  I  have 
seen.  They  may  of  course  be  hieroglyphics,  but  to  me  they 
look  like  the  first  attempts  of  some  untutored  savage  youth* 
to  delineate  in  straight  lines  the  human  form  divine.  Or 
they  may  be  only  his  attempts  to  delineate  a  cockroach. 


178  Sinners  and  Saints. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

FROM    GLENWOOD    TO    MONROE. 

From  Glen  wood  to  Salina — Deceptiveness  of  appearances— An  apos- 
tate Mormon's  friendly  testimony — Reminiscences  of  the  Prophet 
Joseph  Smith — Rabbit -hunting  in  a  waggon — Lost  in  the  sage- 
brush— A  day  at  Monroe — Girls  riding  pillion — The  Sunday 
drum — Waiting  for  the  right  man  :  "  And  what  if  he  is  married  ?  " 
— The  truth  about  apostasy  :  not  always  voluntary. 

SOON  after  leaving  Glenwood,  cultivation  dies  out,  and  for 
twelve  miles  or  so  the  rabbit-brush  and  grease-wood — the 
"  atriplex  "  of  disagreeably  scientific  travellers,  who  always 
speak  of  sage-brush  as  "  artemisia,"  and  disguise  the  gentle 
chipmunk  as  "spermophilus  " — divide  the  land  between  them. 
The  few  flowers,  and  these  all  dwarfed  varieties,  attest  the 
poverty  of  the  soil.  The  mountains,  however,  do  their  best 
to  redeem  the  landscape,  and  the  scenery,  as  desolate 
scenery,  is  very  fine.  The  ranges  that  have  on  either  hand 
rolled  along  an  unbroken  series  of  monotonous  contour,  now 
break  up  into  every  conceivable  variety  of  form,  mimicking 
architecture  or  rather  multiplying  its  types,  and  piling  bluffs, 
pierced  with  caves,  upon  terraces,  and  pinnacles  upon 
battlements.  Causeways,  like  that  in  Echo  Canon,  slant 
down  their  slopes,  and  other  vestiges  of  a  terrific  aqueous 
action  abound.  Next  to  this  riot  of  rock  comes  a  long 
series  of  low  hills,  grey,  red,  and  yellow,  utterly  destitute  of 
vegetation,  and  so  smooth  that  it  looks  as  if  the  place  were 
a  mountain-yard,  where  Nature  made  her  mountains,  and  had 


Where  Black  f lawk  fought.  179 

collected  all  her  materials  about  her  in  separate  convenient 
mounds  before  beginning  to  mix  up  and  fuse.  In  places 
they  were  richly  spangled  with  mica,  giving  an  appearance  of 
sparkling,  trickling  water  to  the  barren  slopes. 

On  the  other  side  of  the  valley,  the  mountains,  discoun- 
tenancing such  frivolities,  had  settled  down  into  solid- 
bottomed  masses  of  immense  bulk,  the  largest  mountains, 
in  superficial  acreage,  I  had  seen  all  the  journey,  and  densely 
cedared. 

With  Gunnison  in  sight  across  the  valley,  we  reached 
Willow  Creek,  a  pleasant  diversion  of  water  and  foliage  in 
the  dreary  landscape,  and  an  eventful  spot  in  the  last  Indian 
war,  for  among  these  willows  here  Black  Hawk  made  a  stand 
to  dispute  the  Mormons'  pursuit  of  their  plundered  stock,  and 
held  the  creek,  too,  all  the  day.  And  so  out  on  to  the  mono- 
tonous grease-wood  levels  again — an  Indians'  camp  fire 
among  the  cedars,  the  only  sign  of  a  living  thing — and  over 
another  "  divide,"  and  so  into  the  Sevier  Valley.  The  river 
is  seen  flowing  along  the  central  depression,  with  the  Red- 
Mound  settlement  on  the  other  side  of  the  stream,  and 
Salina  on  this  side  of  it,  lying  on  ahead. 

Salina  is  one  of  those  places  it  is  very  hard  to  catch. 
You  see  it  first  "  about  seven  "  miles  off,  and  after  travel- 
ling towards  it  for  an  hour  and  a  half,  find  you  have  still 
"  eight  miles  or  so  "  to  go.  "  Appearances  are  very  decep- 
tive in  this  country,"  as  these  people  delight  in  saying  to 
new-comers,  and  the  following  story  is  punctually  told,  at 
every  opportunity,  to  illustrate  it 

A  couple  of  Britishers  (of  course  "  Britishers  ")  started  off 
from  their  hotel  "  to  walk  over  to  that  mountain  there,"  just 
to  get  an  appetite  for  breakfast.  About  dinner-time  one  of 
them  gave  up  and  came  back,  leaving  his  obstinate  friend 
to  hunt  the  mountain  by  himself.  After  dining,  however,  he 

N    2 


180  Sinners  and  Saints. 


took  a  couple  of  horses  and  rode  out  after  his  friend,  and 
towards  evening  came  up  with  him  just  as  he  was  taking  off 
his  shoes  and  stockings  by  the  side  of  a  two-foot  ditch. 

"  Hallo  !  "  said  the  horseman,  "  what  on  earth  are  you 
doing,  Jack  ?  " 

"Doing  /"  replied  the  other  sulkily.  "Can't you  see?  I 
am  taking  off  my  boots  to  wade  this  infernal  river." 

"River!"  exclaimed  his  friend;  "what  river?  That 
thing's  only  a  two-foot  ditch !  " 

"  Daresay,''  was  the  dogged  response.  "  It  looks  only  a 
two-foot  ditch.  But  you  can't  trust  anything  in  this  beastly 
country.  Appearances  are  so  deceptive" 

But  we  caught  Salina  at  last,  for  we  managed  to  head  it 
up  into  a  cul-de-sac  of  the  mountains,  and  overtook  it  about 
sundown.  A  few  years  ago  the  settlement  was  depopulated  ; 
for  Black  Hawk  made  a  swoop  at  it  from  his  eyrie  among 
the  cedars  on  the  overlooking  hill,  and  after  killing  a  few  of 
the  people,  compelled  the  survivors  to  fly  northward,  where  the 
militia  was  mustering  for  the  defence  of  the  valley.  It  was  in 
this  war  that  the  Federal  officer  commanding  the  post  at  Salt 
Lake  City,  acting  under  the  orders  of  General  Sherman,  re- 
fused to  help  the  settlers,  telling  them  in  a  telegram  of  twenty 
words  to  help  themselves.  The  country,  therefore,  remem- 
bers with  considerable  bitterness  that  three  years'  campaign 
against  a  most  formidable  combination  of  Indians;  when 
they  lost  so  many  lives,  when  two  counties  had  to  be  entirely 
abandoned,  many  scattered  settlements  broken  up,  and  an 
immense  loss  in  property  and  stock  suffered. 

At  Salina  I  met  an  apostate  Mormon  who  had  deserted 
the  religion  because  he  had  grown  to  disbelieve  in  it,  but 
who  had  retained,  nevertheless,  all  his  respect  for  the 
leaders  of  the  Church  and  the  general  body  of  Mormons. 
He  is  still  a  polygamist ;  that  is  to  say,  having  married  two 


The  Prophet  an  Athlete.  1 8 1 

wives,  he  has  continued  to  treat  them  honourably  as  wives. 
With  me  was  an  apostle,  one  of  the  most  deservedly  popular 
elders  of  the  Church,  and  it  was  capital  entertainment  to 
hear  the  apostate  and  the  apostle  exchanging  their  jokes  at 
each  other's  expense.  I  was  shown  at  this  house,  by  the 
way,  an  emigration  loan  receipt.  The  emigrant,  his  wife, 
and  three  children,  had  been  brought  out  in  the  old  waggon 
days  at  $50  a  head.  Some  fifteen  years  later,  when  the 
man  had  become  well-to-do  and  after  he  had  apostatized,  he 
repaid  the  $250,  and  some  $50  extra  as  "  interest."  The 
loan  ticket  stipulated  for  "  ten  per  cent,  per  annum,"  but 
as  he  said,  it  was  "  only  Mormons  who  would  have  let  him 
run  on  so  long,  and  then  have  let  him  off  so  much  of  the 
interest." 

My  host  was  himself  an  interesting  man,  for  he  had  been 
with  the  Saints  ever  since  the  stormy  days  of  Kirtland,  and 
had  known  Joseph  Smith  personally.  "Ah,  sir,  he  was  a. 
noble  man  !  "  said  the  old  fellow.  Among  other  out-of-the- 
way  items  which  he  told  me  about  the  founder  of  the  faith, 
was  his  predilection  for  athletic  exercises  and  games  of  all 
kinds ;  how  he  used  to  challenge  strangers  to  wrestle,  and  be 
very  wroth  when,  as  happened  once,  the  stranger  threw  him 
over  the  counter  of  a  shop  ;  and  how  he  used  to  play  base- 
ball with  the  boys  in  the  streets  of  Nauvoo.  This  trait  of 
Joseph  Smith's  character  I  have  never  seen  noticed  by  his 
biographers,  but  it  is  quite  noteworthy,  as  also,  I  think,  is  the 
extraordinary  fascination  which  his  personal  appearance — 
for  he  was  a  very  handsome  man  of  the  Sir  Robert  Peel 
type — seems  to  have  exercised  over  his  contemporaries. 
When  speaking  to  them,  I  find  that  one  and  all  will  glance 
from  the  other  aspects  of  his  life  to  this — that  he  was  "  a 
noble  man." 

Rabbit-hunting  across  country  in  a  two -horse  waggon  is 


1 82  Sinners  and  Saints. 

not  a  sport  I  shall  often  indulge  in  again.  The  rabbit  has 
things  too  much  its  own  way.  It  does  not  seem  to  be  a 
suitable  animal  for  pursuing  in  a  vehicle.  It  is  too  evasive. 

Indeed,  but  for  an  accident,  I  should  probably  never  have 
indulged  in  it  at  all.  But  it  happened  that  on  our  way  from 
Salina  to  Monroe  we  lost  our  way.  Our  teamster,  for  in- 
scrutable reasons  of  his  own,  turned  off  from  the  main  road 
into  a  bye-track,  which  proved  to  have  been  made  by  some 
one  prospecting  for  clay,  and  the  hole  which  he  had  exca- 
vated was  its  terminus.  I  tried  to  think  out  his  reason  for 
choosing  this  particular  road,  the  least  and  most  unpromis- 
ing of  the  three  that  offered  themselves  to  him.  It  was 
probably  this.  Two  out  of  the  three  roads,  being  wrong  ones, 
were  evils.  One  of  these  was  larger  than  the  other,  and  so 
of  the  two  evils  he  chose  the  less.  Q.E.D. 

To  get  back  into  the  road  we  struck  across  the  sage-brush, 
and  in  so  doing  started  a  jack-rabbit.  As  it  ran  in  the  direc- 
tion we  wanted  to  go,  we  naturally  followed  it.  But  the  jack- 
rabbit  thought  we  were  in  murderous  pursuit,  and  performed 
prodigies  of  agility  and  strategy  in  order  to  escape  us.  But 
the  one  thing  that  it  ought  to  have  done,  got  out  of  our 
road,  it  did  not  do.  We  did  not  gain  on  the  lively  animal, 
I  confess,  for  it  was  all  we  could  do  to  retain  our  seats,  but 
we  gave  it  enough  to  prose  about  all  the  days  of  its  life. 
What  stories  the  younger  generation  of  jack-rabbits  will 
hear  of  "the  old  days  "  when  desperate  men  used  to  come 
out  thousands  of  miles  in  two-horse  waggons  with  canvas 
hoods  to  try  and  catch  their  ancestors  !  And  what  a  hero 
that  particular  jack-rabbit  which  we  did  not  hunt  will  be  ! 

The  road  southwards  leads  along  hillsides,  both  up  and 
down,  but  on  the  whole  gradually  ascending,  till  the  summit 
of  the  spur  is  reached.  Here  one  of  the  most  enchanting 
landscapes  possible  is  suddenly  found  spread  out  beneath  you. 


Lost  in  the  Sage-brush.  183 

A  vast  expanse  of  green  meadow-land  with  pools  of  blue 
water  here  and  there,  herds  of  horses  grazing,  flocks  of  wild 
fowl  in  the  air,  and  on  the  right  the  settlement  of  Richfield 
among  its  trees  and  red-soiled  corn-fields  ! 

Crossing  this  we  found  that  a  spur,  running  down  on  it, 
divides  it  really  into  two,  or  rather  conceals  a  second  plain 
from  sight.  But  in  the  second,  sage-brush,  "  the  damnable 
absinthe,"  that  standard  of  desolation,  waves  rampant,  and 
the  telegraph  wire  that  goes  straddling  across  it  seems  as  if 
it  must  have  been  laid  solely  for  the  convenience  of  larks. 
Every  post  has  its  lark,  as  punctually  as  its  insulator,  and 
every  lark  lets  off  its  three  delicious  notes  of  song  as  we  go 
by,  just  as  if  the  birds  were  sentries  passing  on  a  "  friend  " 
from  picket  to  picket.  And  here  it  was  that  we  adventured 
with  the  jack-rabbit,  much  to  our  own  discomfiture.  But 
while  we  were  casting  about  for  our  lost  road,  we  came  upon  ' 
a  desolate  little  building,  all  alone  in  the  middle  of  the  waste, 
which  we  had  supposed  to  be  a  deserted  ranch-house, 
and  were  surprised  to  find  several  waggons  standing  about. 
Just  as  we  reached  it,  the  owners  of  the  waggons  came  out, 
and  then  we  discovered  that  it  was  the  "  meeting-house  " 
for  the  scattered  ranches  round,  and  seeing  the  several 
parties  packing  themselves  into  the  different  waggons  re- 
membered (from  a  certain  Sabbatical  smartness  of  apparel) 
that  it  was  Sunday.  We  were  soon  on  our  right  road  again, 
and  passing  the  hamlets  of  Inverary  and  Elsinore  on  the 
right,  came  in  sight  of  Monroe,  and  through  a  long  prelude 
of  cultivation  reached  that  quaint  little  village  just  appa- 
rently at  the  fashionable  hour  for  girls  to  go  out  riding  with 
their  beaux. 

Couple  after  couple  passed  us,  the  girls  riding  pillion 
behind  their  sweethearts,  and  very  well  contented  they  all 
seemed  to  be,  with  their  arms  round  the  object  of  their 


184  Sinners  and  Saints. 

affections.  Except  in  France  once  or  twice,  I  do  not  recol- 
lect ever  having  seen  this  picturesque  old  custom  in  prac- 
tice ;  but  judging  from  the  superior  placidity  of  his  coun- 
tenance and  the  merriment  on  hers,  I  should  say  it  was  an 
enjoyable  one,  and  perhaps  worth  reviving. 

Another  interesting  feature  of  Sunday  evening  in  Monroe 
was  the  big  drum.  It  appeared  that  the  arrival  of  the  Apostle 
who  was  with  me  had  been  expected,  and  that  the  people,  who 
are  every  where  most  curiously  on  the  alert  for  spiritual  refresh- 
ment, had  agreed  that  if  the  Apostle  on  arriving  felt  equal 
to  holding  a  meeting,  the  big  drum  was  to  be  beaten.  In 
due  course,  therefore,  a  very  little  man  disappeared  inside 
a  building  and  shortly  reappeared  in  custody  of  a  very  big 
drum,  which  he  proceeded  to  thump  in  a  becoming  Sab- 
batical manner.  But  whether  the  drum  or  the  association 
of  old  band  days  overcame  him,  or  whether  the  devil 
entered  into  him  or  into  the  drum,  it  is  certain  that  he  soon 
drifted  into  a  funereal  rendering  of  "Yankee  Doodle." 
He  was  conscious,  moreover,  of  his  lapse  into  weekday 
profanity,  and  seemed  to  struggle  against  it  by  beating  pon- 
derous spondees.  But  it  was  of  no  use.  Either  the  drum  or 
the  devil  was  too  big  for  him,  and  the  solemn  measure  kept 
breaking  into  patriotic  but  frivolous  trochaics.  Attracted 
by  these  proceedings,  the  youth  of  the  neighbourhood  had 
collected,  and  their  intelligent  aversion  to  monopolists  was 
soon  apparent  by  their  detaching  the  little  barnacle  from  his 
drum  and  subjecting  the  resonant  instrument  to  a  most  irre- 
gular bastinado.  They  all  had  a  go  at  it,  both  drumsticks 
at  once,  and  the  result  was  of  a  very  unusual  character,  as 
neither  of  the  performers  could  hear  distinctly  what  was  going 
on  on  the  other  side  of  the  drum,  and  each,  therefore,  worked 
quite  independently.  In  the  meanwhile  some  one  had  pro- 
cured a  concertina,  and  this,  with  a  dog  that  had  a  fine 


Some  Mormon  Spinsters.  185 

falsetto  bark,  constituted  a  very  respectable  "  band "  in 
point  of  noise.  Thus  equipped,  the  lads  started  off  to  beat 
up  the  village,  and  working  with  that  enthusiasm  which 
characterizes  the  self-imposed  missions  of  youth,  were  very 
successful.  Everybody  came  out  to  their  doors  to  see  what 
was  going  on,  and  having  got  so  far,  they  then  went  on  to 
the  meeting.  By  twos  and  threes  and  occasional  tens  the 
whole  village  collected  inside  the  meeting-house,  or  round 
the  door  unable  to  get  in,  and  I  must  confess  that  looking 
round  the  room,  I  was  surprised  at  the  number  of  pretty 
peasant  faces  that  Monroe  can  muster. 

And  here  for  the  first  time  I  became  aware  of  a  very 
significant  fact,  and  one  that  well  deserves  notice,  though  I 
have  never  heard  or  seen  it  referred  to — I  mean  the  number 
of  handsome  marriageable  girls  who  are  unmarried  in  the 
Mormon  settlements.  Omitting  other  places,  in  each  of 
which  many  well-grown,  comely  girls  can  be  found  unmar- 
ried, I  saw  in  the  hamlet  of  Monroe  enough  unwedded 
charms  to  make  me  think  that  either  the  resident  polygamist 
had  very  bad  taste  or  very  bad  luck.  My  host,  a  Mormon, 
was  a  widower  (a  complete  widower  I  mean),  and  two  very 
pretty  girls,  neighbours,  looked  after  his  household  affairs 
for  him.  One  was  a  blonde  Scandinavian  of  Utah  birth  ; 
the  other  a  dark-haired  Scotch  lassie  emigrated  three  years 
ago — and  each  was  just  eighteen.  (And  in  the  Western 
country  eighteen  looks  three-and-twenty.)  I  asked  my  host 
why  he  did  not  marry  one  of  them,  or  both,  and  he  told  me 
that  he  had  a  family  growing  up,  and  that  he  had  so  often 
seen  quarrels  and  separations  result  from  the  remarriage  of 
fathers  that  he  did  not  care  to  risk  it. 

And  the  Apostle,  who  was  present,  said,  "  Quite  right." 
Now  please  remember  this  was  in  polygamous  Utah,  in  a 
secluded  village,  entirely  Mormon,  where,  if  anywhere,  men 


1 86  Sinners  and  Saints. 

and  women  might  surely  do  as  they  pleased.  In  any 
monogamous  society  such  a  reason,  followed  by  the  approval 
of  a  Church  dignitary,  would  not  be  worth  commenting  on, 
but  here  among  Mormons  it  was  significant  enough. 

I  spoke  to  the  girls,  and  asked  them  why  they  had  not 
married. 

"  Because  the  right  man  has  not  come  along  yet,"  said 
one. 

"  But  perhaps  when  the  right  man  does  come  along  he 
will  be  married  already,"  I  said. 

"  And  why  should  that  make  any  difference  ?  "  was  the 
reply. 

In  the  meantime  each  of  these  shapely  daughters  of  Eve 
had  a  "  beau  "  who  took  her  out  riding  behind  him,  escorted 
her  home  from  meeting,  and  so  forth.  But  neither  of  them 
had  found  "  the  right  man." 

Of  Monroe,  therefore,  one  of  those  very  places,  retired 
from  civilization,  "  where  the  polygamous  Mormon  can 
carry  on  his  beastly  practices  undetected,  and  therefore 
unpunished " — as  the  scandalous  clique  of  Salt  Lake  City 
(utterly  ignorant  of  Mormonism  except  what  it  can  pick  up 
from  apostates)  is  so  fond  of  alleging — I  can  positively  state 
from  personal  knowledge  that  there  are  both  men  and 
women  there  who  are  guided  in  matters  of  marriage  by  the 
very  same  motives  and  principles  that  regulate  the  relation 
in  monogamous  society.  Further,  I  can  positively  state 
the  same  of  several  other  settlements,  and  judging 
from  these,  and  from  Salt  Lake  City,  I  can  assure  my 
readers  that  the  standard  of  public  morality  among  the 
Mormons  of  Utah  is  such  as  the  Gentiles  among  them  are 
either  unable  or  unwilling  to  live  up  to. 

In  this  connexion  it  is  worth  noting  that  public  morality 
has  in  Utah  one  safeguard,  over  and  above  all  those  of 


Church  Surveillance.  187 

other  countries,  namely,  the  strict  surveillance  of  the  Church. 
T  have  enjoyed  while  in  Utah  such  exceptional  advantages 
for  arriving  at  the  truth,  as  both  Gentiles  and  Mormons  say 
have  never  been  extended  to  any  former  writer,  and  among 
other  facts  with  which  I  have  become  acquainted  is  the 
silent  scrutiny  into  personal  character  which  the  Church 
maintains. 

Profanity,  intemperance,  immorality,  and  backbiting  are 
taken  quiet  note  of,  and  if  persisted  in  against  advice,  are 
punished  by  a  gradual  withdrawal  of  "fellowship;"  and 
result  in  what  the  Gentiles  call  "apostasy."  Among  the 
standing  instructions  of  the  teachers  of  the  wards  is  this  : — 

"  If  persons  professing  to  be  members  of  the  Church  be 
guilty  of  allowing  drunkenness,  Sabbath -breaking,  profanity, 
defrauding  or  backbiting,  or  any  other  kind  of  wickedness 
or  unrighteous  dealing,  they  should  be  visited  and  their 
wrong-doing  pointed  out  to  them  in  the  spirit  of  brotherly 
kindness  and  meekness,  and  be  exhorted  to  repent." 

If  they  do  not  repent,  they  find  the  respect,  then  the 
friendship,  and  finally  the  association,  of  their  co-religionists 
withheld  from  them,  and  thus  tacitly  ostracized  by  their 
own  Church,  they  "  apostatize  "  and  carry  their  vices  into 
the  Gentile  camp,  and  there  assist  to  vilify  those  who  have 
already  pronounced  them  unfit  to  live  with  honest  men  or 
virtuous  women. 


1 88  Sinners  and  Saints. 


CHAPTER  XV. 

AT    MONROE. 

"  Schooling  "  in  the  Mormon  districts — Innocence  as  to  whisky,  but 
connoisseurs  in  water — "  What  do  you  think  of  that  water,  sir?" 
— Gentile  dependents  on  Mormon  charity — The  one-eyed  rooster 
— Notice  to  All  ! 

SITTING  at  the  door  next  morning,  I  saw  a  very  trimly- 
dressed  damsel  of  twenty  or  thereabouts,  coming  briskly 
along  under  the  trees,  which  there,  as  in  every  other 
Mormon  settlement,  shade  the  side-walk.  She  was  the 
schoolmistress,  I  learned,  and  very  soon  her  scholars  began 
to  pass  along.  I  had  thus  an  opportunity  of  observing  the 
curious,  happy-go-lucky  style  in  which  "  schooling  "  is  car- 
ried on,  and  I  was  sorry  to  see  it,  for  Mormonism  stands 
urgently  in  need  of  more  education,  and  it  is  pure  folly  to 
spend  half  the  revenue  of  the  Territory  annually  in  a  school 
establishment,  if  the  children  and  their  parents  are  permitted 
to  suppose  that  education  is  voluntary  and  a  matter  of 
individual  whim.  Some  of  the  leading  members  of  the 
Church  are  conspicuous  defaulters  in  this  matter,  and  do 
their  families  a  gross  wrong  by  setting  "  the  chores  "  and 
education  before  them  as  being  of  equal  importance.  Even 
in  the  highest  class  of  the  community  children  go  to  school 
or  stay  away  almost  as  they  like,  and  provided  a  little  boy 
or  girl  has  the  shrewdness  to  see  that  he  or  she  can  relieve 
the  father  or  mother  from  trouble  by  being  at  home  to  run 


Ignorance  as  to  Whisky.  189 

errands  and  do  .little  jobs  about  the  house,  they  can,  I 
regret  to  think,  regulate  the  amount  of  their  own  schooling 
as  they  please.  I  know  very  well  that  Utah  compares  very 
favourably,  on  paper,  with  the  greater  part  of  America,  but 
I  have  compiled  and  examined  too  many  educational 
statistics  in  my  time  to  have  any  faith  in  them. 

But  in  the  matter  of  abstinence  from  strong  drink  and 
stimulants,  the  leaders  of  the  Church  set  an  admirable 
example,  and  I  found  it  very  difficult  most  of  the  time, 
and  quite  impossible  part  of  it,  to  keep  my  whisky  flask 
replenished. 

My  system  of  arriving  at  the  truth  as  to  the  existence  of 
spirit  stores  in  any  particular  settlement,  was  to  grumble 
and  complain  at  having  no  whisky,  and  to  exaggerate  my 
regrets  at  the  absence  of  beer.  The  courtesy  of  my  hosts 
was  thus  challenged,  and  of  the  sincerity  of  the  efforts  made 
to  gratify  my  barbaric  tastes,  I  could  have  no  doubt  what- 
ever. In  most  cases  they  were  quite  ignorant  of  even  the 
cost  of  liquor,  and  on  one  occasion  a  man  started  off  with  a 
five-dollar  piece  I  had  given  him  to  get  me  "  five  dollars' 
worth  of  whisky  in  this  bottle,"  pointing  to  my  flask.  I 
explained  to  him  that  I  only  wanted  the  flask  replenished, 
and  that  there  would  be  change  to  bring  back.  He  did 
not  get  any  at  all,  however. 

On  one  occasion  the  Bishop  brought  in,  in  evident 
triumph,  two  bottles  of  beer.  On  another  I  went  clandes- 
tinely with  a  Mormon,  after  dark,  and  drank  some  whisky 
"  as  a  friend,"  and  not  as  a  customer,  with  another  Mormon, 
who  "  generally  kept  a  bottle  on  hand  "  for  secret  con- 
sumption. That  they  would 'both  have  been  ashamed  for 
their  neighbours  to  know  what  they  were  about,  I  am  per- 
fectly convinced.  On  a  third  occasion  an  official  brought 
me  half  a  pint  of  whisky,  and  the  price  was  a  dollar. 


1 90  Sinners  and  Saints. 

Now  it  is  quite  impossible  for  me,  who  have  thus  made 
personal  experiment,  to  have  any  doubt  as  to  the  prevailing 
sobriety  of  these  people.  I  put  them  repeatedly  to  the 
severest  test  that  you  can  apply  to  a  hospitable  man,  by 
asking  point-blank  for  ardent  spirits.  Sometimes,  in  an 
ofl-hand  way,  I  would  give  money  and  the  flask  to  a  lad,  and 
ask  him  to  "  run  across  to  the  store  and  get  me  a  little 
whisky  or  brandy."  He  would  take  both  and  meander 
round  in  an  aimless  sort  of  way.  But  I  might  almost  as 
well  have  asked  him  to  go  and  buy  me  a  few  birds-  of- 
paradise  or  advance  sheets  of  the  "  Encyclopaedia  Britan- 
nica."  The  father  or  a  neighbour  might  perhaps  suggest  a 
"  likely  "  place  to  get  some  stimulant,  but,  as  a  rule,  the 
quest  was  unconditionally  abandoned  as  hopeless. 

The  Elders  of  the  Church  set  a  strict  example  themselves, 
discouraging,  by  their  own  abstinence,  indulgence  even  in 
tea  and  coffee.  You  are  asked  in  a  settlement  whether  you 
will  have  tea  or  coffee,  just  as  in  England  you  would  be 
asked  whether  you  would  drink  ale  or  claret.  A  strong 
man  takes  a  cup  of  tea  as  a  lady  in  Europe  might  take  a 
glass  of  sherry,  as  justified  by  unusual  exercise  and  fatigue. 
Being  a  Londoner,  I  entertain  a  most  wholesome  suspicion 
of  water  as  a  drink,  and  I  reverence  fresh  milk.  In  rural 
Utah,  milk  being  so  abundant,  the  people  think  little  of  it, 
but  they  pride  themselves  on  their  water. 

"  What  do  you  think  of  that  water,  sir  ?  "  was  a  question 
that  puzzled  me  to  answer  at  first,  for  I  am  not  a  connois- 
seur in  drinking-water.  If  it  had  been  a  claret,  I  might 
have  made  a  pretence  of  criticism.  But  water  !  Or  if  they 
had  let  me  wash  in  it,  I  would  have  told  them  whether  I 
thought  it  "  hard  "  or  "  soft."  But  to  pass  an  opinion  on  a 
particular  tumbler  of  water,  as  if  it  were  a  special  brand  laid 
down  by  my  host  for  his  own  drinking,  completely  puzzled 


Connoisseurs  as  to  Water.  191 

me.  I  can  no  more  tell  waters  apart  than  I  can  tell  China- 
men. Of  course  I  can  discriminate  between  the  outcome  of 
the  sea  and  of  sulphur  springs.  But  for  the  rest,  it  seems 
to  me  that  they  only  differ  in  their  degrees  of  cleanliness,  or, 
as  scientific  men  say,  to  "  the  properties  which  they  hold  in 
solution,"  that  is  mud.  And  mud,  I  take  it,  is  always  pretty 
much  the  same. 

So  at  first  when  my  host  would  suddenly  turn  to  me  with, 
"  What  do  you  think  of  that  water,  sir?"  I  made  the 
mistake  of  supposing  it  might  be  one  of  the  extraordinary 
aqueous  novelties  for  which  this  territory  is  so  remarkable 
— hot  geyser  water  or  petrifying  water,  or  something  else  of 
the  kind—  and  would  smack  my  lips  critically  and  venture 
on  a  suggestion  of  "  lime,"  or  "  soda,"  or  "  alkali."  But 
my  host  was  always  certain  to  be  down  with,  "  Oh,  no ;  I 
assure  you.  That  is  reckoned  the  best  water  in  the 
county ! " 

I  soon  discovered,  however,  that  the  right  thing  to  say 
was  that  I  preferred  it,  "  on  the  whole,"  to  the  water  at  the 
last  place.  This  was  invariably  satisfactory — unless,  of 
course,  there  was  a  resident  of  "  the  last  place  "  present, 
when  an  argument  would  ensue.  These  people,  in  fact, 
look  upon  their  drinking-water  just  as  on  the  continent  they 
look  upon  their  vins  ordinaires,  or  in  England  upon  their 
local  brews,  and  to  the  last  I  could  not  help  being  de- 
lighted at  the  manner  in  which  a  jug  of  water  and  tumblers 
were  handed  about  among  a  party  of  fatigued  and  thirsty 
travellers.  I  always  took  my  share  becomingly,  but  some- 
times, I  must  confess,  with  silent  forebodings. 

For  in  some  places  there  are  springs  which  petrify,  by 
coating  with  lime,  any  substance  they  flow  over,  and  I  did 
not  anticipate  with  any  gratification  having  my  throat  lined 
with  cement,  or  my  stomach  faced  with  building-stone. 


192  Sinners  and  Saints. 

"  Who  are  those  children  ?  "  said  I  to  my  host  at  Munroe, 
pointing  to  two  ragged  little  shoeless  waifs  that  were  stand- 
ing in  his  yard  and  evidently  waiting  to  be  taken  notice  of. 
Instead  of  replying,  my  host  turned  towards  them. 

"  Well,  Jimmy,"  said  he,  "  what  is  it  to-day  ?  " 

The  wistful  eyes  looking  out  from  under  the  tattered, 
broad-brimmed  hats,  brightened  into  intelligence. / 

"Another  chicken  for  mother,"  said  both  together, 
promptly ;  and  then,  as  if  suddenly  overtaken  by  a  sense  of 
their  audacity,  the  forlorn  little  lads  dropped  their  eyes  and 
stood  there,  holding  each  other's  hands,  as  picturesque  and 
pathetic  a  pair  as  any  beggar  children  in  Italy.  In  the  full 
sunlight,  but  half  shaded  by  the  immense  brims  of  those 
wonderfully  ancient  hats,  the  urchins  were  irresistibly 
artistic,  and  if  met  with  anywhere  in  the  Riviera,  would 
have  been  sure  of  that  small-change  tribute  which  the 
romantic  tourist  pays  with  such  pleasant  punctuality  to  the 
picturesque  poverty  of  Southern  childhood.  But  this  was 
in  Utah. 

And  my  host  looked  at  them  from  under  his  tilted  straw 
hat.  They  stood  in  front  of  him  as  still  as  sculptors'  models, 
but  the  fingers  and  toes  kept  exchanging  little  signals  of 
nervous  distress. 

"All  right.  Go  and  get  one,"  said  my  host  suddenly. 
"  Take  the  young  rooster  that's  blind  of  one  eye." 

He  had  to  shout  the  last  instructions  in  a  rapid  crescendo 
as  the  youngsters  had  sprung  off  together  at  the  word  "  go," 
like  twin  shafts  from  those  double-arrowed  bows  of  the  old 
Manchurian  archers.  Three  minutes  later  and  a  most 
woful  scrawking  heralded  the  approach  of  the  captors  and 
the  captive.  The  young  rooster,  though  blind  of  one  eye, 
saw  quite  enough  of  the  situation  to  make  him  apprehensive, 
but  the  younger  urchin  had  him  tight  under  his  arm,  and, 


Gentile  Beggars.  193 

still  under  the  exciting  influences  of  the  chase  and  capture, 
the  boys  stood  once  more  before  my  host,  with  panting 
bodies,  flushed  cheeks,  and  tufts  of  yellow  hair  sprouting 
out  through  crevices  of  those  wondrous  old  hats,  which  had 
evidently  just  seen  service  in  the  capture.  And  the  rooster, 
feeling,  perhaps,  that  he  was  now  before  the  final  court  of 
appeal,  scrawked  as  if  machinery  had  got  loose  inside  him 
and  he  couldn't  stop  it. 

"  How's  your  (scraw-w-w-K)  mother?" 

"She's  (scraw-w-w-w-w-K) — and  she's  (scraw-w-w-k) 
nothing  to  eat  all  yesterday."  (Scraw-w-k.) 

"  Go  on  home,  then." 

And  away  down  the  middle  of  the  road  scudded  the 
little  fellows  in  a  confusion  of  dust  and  scrawk. 

"Who  are  those  children?"  I  asked  again,  thinking  I 
had  chanced  on  that  unknown  thing,  a  pauper  Mormon. 

"  Oh,"  said  my  host,  "  he's  a  bad  lot — an  outsider — who 
came  in  here  as  a  loafer,  and  deserted  his  wife.  She's  very 
ill  and  pretty  nigh  starving.  Ay,  she  would  starve,  too,  if 
her  boys  there  didn't  come  round  regular,  begging  of  us. 

But  loafers  know  very  well  that '  those Mormons '  won't 

let  anybody  go  hungry.  Ay,  and  they  act  as  if  they  knew 
it,  too." 

In  other  settlements  there  are  exactly  such  similar  cases, 
but  I  would  draw  the  attention  of  my  readers — I  wish  I 
could  draw  the  attention  of  the  whole  nation  to  it — to  the 
following  notice  which  stands  to  this  day  with  all  the  force 
of  a  regular  by-law  in  these  Mormon  settlements  : — 

"NOTICE  TO  ALL. 

"  If  there  are  any  persons  in  this  city  who  are  destitute  of 
food,  let  them  be  who  they  may,  if  they  will  let  their  wants 
be  known  to  me,  privately  or  otherwise,  I  will  see  that  they 

o 


194  Sinners  and  Saints. 

are  furnished  with  food  and  lodging  until  they  can  provide 
for  themselves.  The  bishops  of  every  ward  are  to  see  that 
there  are  no  persons  going  hungry.  * 

"  (Signed  by  the  Presiding  Bishop.)" 

Now  it  may  be  mere  "  sentiment "  on  my  part,  but  I 
confess  that  this  "  Notice  to  All,"  in  the  simplicity  of  its 
wording,  in  the  nobility  of  its  spirit,  reads  to  me  very 
beautifully.  And  what  a  contrast  to  turn  from  this  text  of 
a  universal  charity,  that  is  no  respecter  of  persons,  to  the 
infinite  meanness  of  those  who  can  write,  and  publish  it 
to  the  world,  of  the  whole  community  of  Mormons  as  "  the 
villainous  spawn  of  polygamy  ! " 

It  is  a  recognized  law  among  the  Mormons  that  no  tramp 
shall  pass  by  one  of  their  settlements  hungry ;  if  it  is  at 
nightfall,  he  is  to  be  housed.  Towards  the  Indians  their 
policy  is  one  of  enlightened  and  Christian  humanity.  For 
their  own  people  their  charity  commences  from  the  first. 
Emigrated  to  this  country  by  the  voluntary  donations  which 
maintain  the  "Perpetual  Emigration  Fund,"  each  new 
arrival  is  met  with  immediate  care,  and  being  passed  on  to 
his  location,  finds  (as  I  have  described  in  another  chapter) 
a  system  of  mutual  kindliness  prevailing  which  starts  him  in 
life.  If  sick,  he  is  cared  for.  If  he  dies,  his  family  is 
provided  for.  All  this  is  fact.  I  have  read  it  in  no  books, 
heard  it  from  no  hoodwinking  elders.  My  informants  are 
lads  just  arrived  in  Salt  Lake  City — within  an  hour  or  two 
of  their  arrival,  in  fact ;  young  men  just  settling  down  in 
their  first  log  hut  in  rural  settlements  :  grown  men  now 
themselves  engaged  in  the  neighbourly  duty  of  assisting 
new-comers. 

I  have  met  and  talked  to  those  men — Germans,  Scandi- 
navians, Britishers— in  their  own  homes  here  in  Utah,  and 


Mormon  Charity.  195 

have  positively  assured  myself  of  the  fact  I  state,  that 
charity,  unquestioning,  simple-hearted  charity,  is  one  of  the 
secrets  of  the  strength  of  this  wonderful  fabric  of  Mormon- 
ism.  The  Mormons  are,  more  nearly  than  any  other  com- 
munity in  the  world  on  such  a  scale,  one  family.  Every 
man  knows  all  the  rest  of  his  neighbours  with  an  intimacy 
and  a  neighbourly  interest  that  is  the  result  of  reciprocal 
good  services  in  the  past.  This  is  their  bond  of  union. 
In  India  there  is  "  the  village  community "  which  moves, 
though  in  another  arc,  on  the  same  plane  as  the  Mormon 
settlement  system.  There,  to  touch  one  man's  crop  is  to 
inflame  the  whole  clan  with  the  sense  of  a  common  injury. 
Here  it  is  much  the  same.  And  as  it  is  between  the 
different  individuals  in  a  settlement,  so  it  is  between  the 
different  settlements  in  the  territory.  A  brutal  act,  like 
that  eviction  of  the  Mormon  postmaster  at  Park  City  the 
other  day,  disturbs  the  whole  of  Mormonism  with  appre- 
hensions of  impending  violence.  A  libel  directed  at  a  man 
or  woman  in  Salt  Lake  City  makes  a  hundred  thousand 
personal  enemies  in  Utah.  Now,  with  what  petard  will  you 
hoist  such  a  rock  ? 

Induce  these  Mormons  to  hate  one  another  "  for  all  the 
world  like  Christians,"  as  George  Eliot  said,  and  they  can  be 
snapped  as  easily  as  the  philosopher's  faggots  when  once 
they  were  unbundled.  But  in  the  meantime  abuse  of  in- 
dividuals or  "  persecution  "  of  a  class  simply  cements  the 
whole  body  together  more  firmly  than  ever.  Mutual  charity 
is  one  of  the  bonds  of  Mormon  union. 


O   2 


196  Sinners  and  Saints. 


CHAPTER    XVI. 

JACOB    HAMBLIN. 

A  Mormon  missionary  among  the  Indians— The  story  of  Jacob 
Hamblin's  life — His  spiritualism,  the  result  of  an  intense  faith — 
His  good  work  among  the  Lamanites — His  belief  in  his  own 
miracles. 

LEAVING  Munroe,  we  find  cultivation  gradually  disappearing, 
and,  after  two  or  three  miles,  unmitigated  brush  supervenes. 
A  steep  divide  now  thrusts  itself  across  the  road,  and, 
traversing  near  the  summit  a  patch  of  pebbly  ground  which 
seemed  a  very  paradise  for  botanists,  we  descend  again  into 
a  wilderness  of  grease-wood,  "the  unspeakable  Turk" 
among  vegetables.  The  mountains  between  which  we  pass 
provide,  however,  a  succession  of  fine  views.  They  are  of 
that  bulky,  broad-based  and  slowly  sloping  type  that  is  so 
much  more  solemn  and  impressive  than  jagged,  sharp- 
pointed  and  precipitous  formations. 

A  few  miles  more  bring  us  to  one  of  them,  and  for  the 
first  time  during  the  journey  our  road  runs  through  the 
thickly  growing  "  cedars  "  which  we  have  hitherto  seen  only 
at  a  distance  lying  like  dark  clouds  upon  the  hill-sides  and 
black  drifts  in  the  gulches.  The  wild  flowers  growing  under 
these  "  cedars  "  (and  the  pines  which  are  sprinkled  among 
them)  are  of  new  varieties  to  me,  and  I  enjoyed  a  five-mile 
walk  in  this  novel  vegetation  immensely.  A  few  years  ago, 
though,  "  Mr.  Indian "  would  have  made  himself  too 


Jacob  Hamblin.  197 


interesting  to  travellers  for  men  to  go  wandering  about 
among  the  cedars  picking  posies,  They  would  have  found 
those  "arrows  tipped  with  jasper/'  which  are  so  picturesque 
in  Hiawatha,  flying  about  instead  of  humming-birds 
tipped  with  emerald,  and  a  tomahawk  hurtling  through  the 
bushes  would  have  been  more  likely  to  excite  remark  than 
the  blue  magpies  which  I  saw  looking  after  snails. 

This  district  was,  until  very  recently,  a  favourite  hunting- 
ground  of  those  Indians  of  whom  old  Jacob  Hamblin  was 
the  Nestor — the  guide,  philosopher,  friend,  and  victim. 
One  day  they  would  try  "  to  fill  his  skin  full  of  arrows ;" 
on  the  next  day  they  would  be  round  him,  asking  him  to 
make  rain-medicine.  They  would  talk  Mormonism  with 
him  all  day,  and  grunt  approvingly ;  as  soon  as  night  fell 
they  would  steal  his  horse.  He  was  always  patching  up 
peace  between  this  tribe  and  that,  yet  every  now  and  then 
they  would  catch  him,  have  a  great  pow-wow  over  him,  and 
being  unable  to  decide  whether  he  should  be  simply  flayed 
or  be  roasted  first  over  a  charcoal  fire,  would  let  him  go, 
with  provisions  and  an  escort  for  his  home  journey. 

His  life,  indeed,  was  so  wonderful — much  more  fascinat- 
ing than  any  fiction — that  I  am  not  surprised  at  his  believing, 
as  he  does,  that  he  is  under  the  special  protection  of  Heaven, 
and,  as  he  says,  in  a  private  covenant  with  the  Almighty 
that  "  if  he  does  not  thirst  for  the  blood  of  the  Lamanites, 
his  blood  shall  never  be  shed  by  them."  He  began  life  as 
a  farmer  near  Chicago,  but  being  baptized  received  at  once 
"  the  immediate  gift  of  the  Holy  Ghost,"  and  at  once 
entered  upon  a  career  of  "  miracles  "  and  "  prophecies  "  that 
when  told  in  serious  earnest  are  sufficient  to  stagger  even 
Madame  Blavatsky  herself.  He  cured  his  neighbours  of 
deadly  ailments  by  the  laying  on  of  hands,  and  foretold 
conversions,  deaths,  and  other  events  with  unvarying  accu- 


1 98  Sinners  and  Saints. 

racy.  By  prolonged  private  meditation  he  enjoyed  what, 
from  his  description,  must  be  a  pregustation  of  the  Bud- 
dhistic Nirvana,  and  after  this,  miracles  became  quite  com- 
monplace with  him.  He  witnessed  the  "  miracle  "  of  the 
great  quail  flights  into  the  camp  of  the  fugitive  and  starving 
Saints  in  1846,  and  helped  to  collect  the  birds  and  to  eat 
them  ;  he  saw  also  the  "  miraculous  "  flights  of  seagulls  that 
rescued  the  Mormons  from  starvation  by  destroying  the 
locusts  in  1848. 

But  his  personal  experiences,  narrated  with  a  simplicity 
of  speech  and  unquestioning  confidence  that  are  bewilder- 
ing, were  really  marvellous.  If  cattle  were  lost,  he  could 
always  dream  where  they  were.  If  sickness  prevailed,  he 
knew  beforehand  who  would  suffer,  and  which  of  them 
would  die,  and  which  of  them  recover.  If  Indians  were 
about,  angels  gave  him  in  his  sleep  the  first  warnings  of  his 
danger.  His  sympathy  with  the  Indians  was,  however,  very 
early  awakened,  and  being  strengthened  in  it  by  the  con- 
ciliatory Indian  policy  of  Brigham  Young,  he  became  before 
long  the  only  recognized  medium  of  friendly  communica- 
tion with  them.  Everybody,  whether  Federal  officials, 
California  emigrants,  Mormon  missionaries,  or  Indians 
themselves,  enlisted  his  influence  whenever  trouble  with  the 
tribes  was  anticipated.  His  own  explanation  of  this 
influence  is  remarkable  enough.  As  a  young  man,  he  says, 
he  was  sometimes  told  off  to  join  retributive  expeditions, 
but  he  could  never  bring  himself  to  fire  at  an  Indian,  and 
on  one  occasion,  when  he  did  try  to  do  so,  his  rifle  kept 
missing  fire,  while  "the  Lamanites,"  with  equally  ineffectual 
efforts  to  shed  his  blood,  kept  on  pincushioning  the  ground 
all  around  him  with  their  futile  arrows.  After  this  he  and 
the  Indians  whenever  they  met,  spared  each  other's  lives 
with  punctual  reciprocity. 


A  Mormon  Missionary.  199 

On  one  occasion  he  dreamed  that  he  was  walking  in  a 
friendly  manner  with  some  of  the  members  of  a  certain 
tribe,  when  he  picked  up  a  piece  of  a  shining  substance, 
which  stuck  to  his  fingers.  The  more  he  tried  to  rub  it 
off  the  brighter  it  became.  One  would  naturally,  under 
such  circumstances,  anticipate  the  revelation  of  a  gold-mine, 
but  Jacob  Hamblin,  without  any  questioning,  went  off  at 
once  to  the  tribe  in  question.  They  received  him  as 
friends,  and  he  stayed  with  them.  One  day,  passing  a 
lodge,  "the  Spirit "  whispered  to  him,  "  Here  is  the  shining 
substance  you  saw  in  your  dream."  But  all  he  saw  was  a 
squaw  and  a  boy  papoose.  However,  he  went  up  to  the 
squaw,  and  asked  for  the  boy.  She  naturally  demurred  to 
the  request,  but  to  her  astonishment  the  boy,  gathering  up 
his  bow  and  arrows,  urged  compliance  with  it,  and  Hamblin 
eventually  led  off  his  dream-revealed  "lump."  After  a 
while  he  asked  the  boy  how  it  was  he  was  so  eager  to 
come,  though  he  had  never  seen  a  white  man  before,  and 
the  boy  answered,  "  My  Spirit  told  me  that  you  were 
coming  to  my  father's  lodge  for  me  on  a  certain  day,  and 
that  I  was  to  go  with  you,  and  when  the  day  came  I  went 
out  to  the  edge  of  the  wood,  and  lit  a  fire  to  show  you  the 
way  to  me."  And  Hamblin  then  remembered  that  it  was 
the  smoke  of  a  fire  that  had  led  him  to  that  particular 
camp,  instead  of  another  towards  which  he  had  intended 
riding ! 

By  way  of  a  parenthesis,  let  me  remark  here  that  if  there 
are  any  "Spiritualists"  among  my  readers,  they  should 
study  Mormonism.  The  Saints  have  long  ago  formulated 
into  accepted  doctrines  those  mysteries  of  the  occult  world 
which  Spiritualists  outside  the  faith  are  still  investigating. 
Your  "  problems  "  are  their  axioms. 

This  Indian  boy  became  a  staunch  Mormon,  and  to  the 


2OO  Sinners  and  Saints. 

last  was  in  communion  with  the  other  world.  Remember 
I  am  quoting  Hamblin's  words,  not  in  any  way  endorsing 
them.  In  1863  he  was  at  St.  George,  and  one  day  when 
his  friends  were  starting  on  a  mission  to  a  neighbouring 
tribe,  he  took  farewell  of  them  "for  ever."  "I  am  going 
on  a  mission,  too,"  he  said.  "  What  do  you  mean  ?  "  asked 
Hamblin.  "Only  that  I  shall  be  dead  before  you  come 
back,"  was  the  Indian's  reply.  "  I  have  seen  myself  in  a 
dream  preaching  the  gospel  to  a  multitude  of  my  people, 
and  my  ancestors  were  among  them.  So  I  know  that  I 
must  be  a  spirit  too  before  I  can  carry  the  Word  to 
spirits."  In  six  weeks  Hamblin  returned  ,to  St.  George  ; 
and  the  Indian  was  dead. 

Brigham  Young,  as  I  have  said,  insisted  upon  a  concilia- 
tory policy  towards  the  Indians.  He  made  in  person 
repeated  visits  to  the  missions  at  work  among  them,  and 
was  never  weary  of  advising  and  encouraging.  Here  is  a 
portion  of  one  of  his  letters  :  does  it  read  like  the  words 
of  a  thoroughly  bad  man  ? — "  Seek  by  words  of  righteous- 
ness to  obtain  the  love  and  confidence  of  the  tribes.  Omit 
promises  where  you  are  not  sure  you  can  fulfil  them.  Seek 
to  unite  your  hearts  in  the  bonds  of  love.  .  .  .  May 
the  Spirit  of  the  Lord  direct  you,  and  that  He  may  qualify 
you  for  every  duty  is  the  constant  prayer  of  your  fellow- 
labourer  in  the  gospel  of  salvation,  Brigham  Young."  Here 
is  a  part  of  another  letter:  "I  trust  that  the  genial  and 
salutary  influences  now  so  rapidly  extending  to  the  various 
tribes,  may  continue  till  it  reaches  every  son  and  daughter 
of  Abraham  in  their  fallen  condition.  The  hour  of  their 
redemption  draws  nigh,  and  the  time  is  not  far  off  when 
they  shall  become  a  people  whom  the  Lord  will  bless. 
.  .  .  The  Indians  should  be  encouraged  to  keep  and 
take  care  of  stock.  I  highly  approve  of  your  design  in 


Hamblins  Influence  over  Indians.      201 

doing  your  farming  through  the  natives ;  it  teaches  them  to 
obtain  a  subsistence  by  their  own  industry,  and  leaves  you 
more  liberty  to  extend  your  labours  among  others.  .  .  . 
You  should  always  be  careful  to  impress  upon  them  that 
they  should  not  infringe  on  the  rights  of  others,  and  our 
brethren  should  be  very  careful  not  to  infringe  upon  their 
rights  in  any  particular,  thus  cultivating  honour  and  good 
principles  in  their  midst  by  example  as  well  as  by  precept. 
As  ever,  your  brother  in  the  gospel  of  salvation,  Brigham 
Young." 

These  and  other  letters  are  exactly  in  the  spirit  of  the 
correspondence  which,  in  the  early  days  of  England  in 
Hindostan,  won  for  the  old  Court  of  Directors  the  eternal 
admiration  of  mankind  and  for  England  the  respect  of 
Asia.  Yet  in  Brigham  Young's  case  is  it  ever  carried  to 
his  credit  that  he  spent  so  much  thought  and  time  and 
labour  over  the  reclamation  of  the  Indians,  by  a  policy  of 
kindness,  and  their  exaltation  by  an  example  of  honourable 
dealing  ? 

It  was  in  this  spirit  that  the  Mormon  missionaries  went 
out  to  the  Indians  then  living  in  the  part  of  the  Territory  over 
which  I  travelled,  and  Jacob  Hamblin  was  one  eminently 
characteristic  of  the  type.  Beyond  all  others,  however,  he 
sympathized  with  the  red  man's  nature.  "  I  argue  with 
him  just  as  he  argues,"  he  said.  He  was  on  good  terms 
with  the  medicine- men,  and  took  a  delightful  interest  in 
their  ceremonies.  But  when  they  failed  to  bring  rain  with 
bonfires  and  howling,  he  used  to  pray  down  abundant 
showers ;  when  they  gave  up  tormenting  the  sick  as  past 
all  hope,  Hamblin  restored  the  invalid  to  life  by  the  laying 
on  of  hands  ! 

Once    more   let    me  say  that    I    am    only   quoting,  not, 
indorsing.    But  I  do  him  a  great  injustice  in  not  being  able 


232  Sinners  and  Saints. 

to  convey  in  writing  the  impressive  simplicity  of  his 
language,  his  low,  measured  tones,  his  contemplative, 
earnest  attitude,  his  Indian-like  gravity  of  countenance. 
That  he  speaks  the  implicit  truth,  according  to  his  own 
belief,  I  am  as  certain  as  that  the  water  of  the  Great  Salt 
Lake  is  salt. 

His  "  occult "  sympathies  seemed  at  times  to  be  magnetic, 
for  when  in  doubt  as  to  whom  to  choose  for  his  companion 
on  a  perilous  journey,  some  brother  or  other,  the  fittest 
person  for  the  occasion,  would  always  feel  mysteriously 
influenced  to  go  to  him  to  see  if  his  services  were 
needed.  His  displeasure  killed  men,  that  is  to  say  they 
went  from  his  presence,  sickened  and  died.  So  frequent 
was  this  inexplicable  demise  that  the  Indians  worked  out  a 
superstition  that  evil  befalls  those  who  rob  or  kill  a  Mormon ; 
and  so  marked  were  the  special  manifestations  of  the  mis- 
sionaries' spirit  power,  that,  as  Hamblin  says,  "  the  Indians 
were  without  excuse  for  refusing  conversion,"  and  were 
converted.  "  They  looked  to  us  for  counsel,  and  learned  to 
regard  our  words  .as  law."  Though  the  missionaries  were 
sometimes  alone,  and  the  tribes  around  them  of  the  most 
desperate  kind,  as  "  plundersome  "  as  wolves  and  at  per- 
petual blood-feud  with  each  other,  the  Mormons'  lives  were 
quite  safe.  When  they  had  determined  on  an  atrocity — 
burning  a  squaw,  for  instance  — they  would  do  it  in  the  most 
nervous  hurry,  lest  a  Mormon  should  come  a"long  and  stop 
it,  and  when  they  had  done  it  and  were  reproached,  they 
used  to  cry  like  children,  and  say  they  were  only  Indians. 

Tragedy  and  comedy  went  hand  in  hand  ;  laughter  at  the 
ludicrous  is  cut  short  by  a  shudder  of  horror.  "We  can- 
not be  good ;  we  must  be  Piutes.  Perhaps  some  of  our 
children  will  be  good.  We're  going  off  to  kill  so-and-so. 
Whoop  !  "  And  away  they  would  go,  putting  an  arrow  into 


Hamblins  Belief  in  his  own  Miracles.   203 

the  missionary's  horse  as  they  passed.  By-and-by  the  man 
who  shot  the  arrow  would  be  found  dead,  killed  by  a 
Mormon's  curse,  and  the  rest  would  be  back  at  work  in 
the  settlement  hoeing  pumpkins — "  for  all  the  world  like 
Christians  !  "  Through  all  these  alternations  of  temper  and 
fortune,  Jacob  Hamblin  retained  his  tender  sympathy  with 
the  red  men. 

Their  superstitious  piety  which,  quaintly  enough,  he  does 
not  seem  to  think  is  exactly  like  his  own,  attracted  him. 
Ke  found  among  them  tribes  asking  the  blessing  of  the 
Great  Father  on  their  food  before  they  ate  it ;  invoking  the 
Divine  protection  on  behalf  of  their  visitors ;  praying  for 
protection  when  about  to  cross  a  river ;  returning  thanks 
for  a  safe  return  from  a  journey ;  always  sending  one  of 
their  religious  men  to  accompany  any  party  about  to  travel, 
and  so  on.  All  this  the  pious  Mormon  naturally  respected. 
But  over  and  above  these  more  ordinary  expressions  of 
piety,  He  found  tribes  that  believed  in  and  acted  upon 
dreams ;  that  accepted  the  guidance  of  "  second  sight ; " 
that  relied  upon  prayer  for  obtaining  temporal  necessaries  ; 
that  lived  "  by  faith,"  and  were  awaiting  the  fulfilment  of 
prophecy.  In  all  this  the  Mormon  missionary  sees  nothing 
but  common  sense.  For  instance,  Hamblin  said,  "  I  know 
that  some  people  do  not  believe  in  dreams  and  night-visions. 
I  myself  do  not  believe  in  them  when  they  arise  from  a 
disordered  stomach,  but  in  other  kinds  I  have  been  fore- 
warned of  coming  events,  and  received  much  instruction  !  " 
And,  in  the  spirit  of  these  words,  he  thinks  it  the  most 
natural  thing  in  the  world  that  Indians  should  start  off  after 
a  dream  and  find  their  lost  cattle ;  suddenly  alter  their  course 
in  a  waterless  journey,  and  come  upon  hitherto  unknown 
springs ;  predict  the  most  impossible  meetings  with  friends, 
and  avoid  dangers  that  were  not  even  anticipated.  In  the 


204  Sinners  and  Saints. 

most  serious  manner  possible,  he  acquiesces  in  the  Indians* 
theory  of  rain-getting,  and  acts  upon  their  clairvoyant  advice, 
"  The  Lord,"  he  says,  "  is  mindful  of  the  prayers  of  these 
poor  barbarians,  and  answers  them  with  the  blessings  they 
need."  Seeing  them  quite  sincere  in  their  faith,  he  joins 
them  in  their  ceremonies  of  scattering  consecrated  meal  to 
ensure  protection  on  a  journey,  believing  himself  that 
simple  reliance  on  Providence  is  all  that  men  of  honest 
lives  need. 

One  tribe  has  a  tradition  that  three  prophets  are  to  come 
to  lead  them  back  to  the  lands  that  their  fathers  once 
possessed,  that  these  are  to  be  preceded  by  good  white 
men,  but  that  the  Indians  are  not  to  go  with  them  until 
after  the  three  prophets  have  reappeared  and  told  them 
what  to  do.  The  Indians  accept  the  Mormons  as  "  the 
good  white  men  "  of  the  tradition,  but  "  the  three  prophets  " 
not  having  reappeared,  they  refuse  to  leave  their  villages  (as 
the  Mormons  have  wanted  them  to  do),  and  Hamblin  has 
not  a  word  to  say  against  such  "reasonable"  objec- 
tions. 

Is  it  not  wonderful  to  find  men  thus  reverting  to  an 
intellectual  type  that  the  world  had  supposed  to  be  extinct  ? 
to  find  men,  shrewd  in  business,  honest  in  every  phase 
of  temporal  life,  going  back  to  cheiromancy  and  hydro- 
mancy,  and  transacting  temporal  affairs  at  the  guidance  of 
visions?  An  Indian  prays  for  rain  on  his  pumpkins,  in 
apparently  the  most  unreasonable  way,  but  the  Mormon 
postpones  his  departure  till  the  rain  that  results  is  over. 
On  his  way  he  nearly  dies  of  thirst,  prays  for  deliverance, 
and  in  half  an  hour  snow  falls  over  a  mile  and  a  half  of 
ground,  melts  and  forms  pools  of  water  !  What  are  we  to 
say  of  men  who  say  such  things  as  these  ?  Are  they  all 
crazy  together?  And  what  shall  we  think  of  the  thousands 


The  Red-man's  Traditions.  205 

here  who  believe  that  miracles  are  the  most  ordinary, 
reasonable,  natural,  every-day  phenomena  of  a  life  of  faith, 
and  quote  point-blank  the  promises  of  the  New  Testament 
as  a  sufficient  explanation  ?  The  best  thing,  perhaps,  is  to 
say  Hum  meditatively,  and  think  no  more  about  it. 


206  Sinners  and  Saints. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

THROUGH   MARYSVALE   TO   KINGSTON. 

Piute  County — Days  of  small  things — A  swop  in  the  sage-brush  ;  two 
Bishops  for  one  Apostle — The  Kings  of  Kingston — A  failure  in 
Family  Communism. 

FROM  the  brow  of  the  cedared  hill  south  of  Munroe  a 
splendid  view  is  obtained,  and  Piute  County  opens  with  fair 
promises  ;  for  a  superb-looking  valley,  all  natural  meadow, 
lies  spread  out  on  either  side  of  the  Sevier,  while  from  a 
gulch  in  the  mountains  on  the  right,  a  stream  of  vegeta- 
tion seems  to  have  poured  down  across  the  level,  carrying 
along  with  its  flood  of  cotton-wood  and  willow  a  few 
stately  old  pine-trees.  From  among  the  vegetation 
peeps  out  a  cluster  of  miners'  houses — for  there  are  the 
Sevier  mines  up  beyond  that  pine  gulch — and  a  ranch  or 
two.  Much  of  the  enchantment  of  distance  vanishes  of 
course  as  we  come  down  to  the  level  of  the  plains  ourselves 
and  skirt  it  close  under  the  hills  on  the  left.~  But  it  is  a  fine 
location  nevertheless,  and  some  day,  no  doubt,  may  be  a 
populous  valley. .  After  a  mile  or  two  it  narrows,  and  we 
cross  the  river — a  wooden  bridge,  with  a  store  and  barns — 
("  Lisonbee's  place  ")  making  a  pleasant  interval  of  civili- 
zation. 

From  "  Lisonbee's  "  the  road  passes  up  on  to  and  over  a 
stony  plateau,   and  then  descends  into  the  valley  again. 


Days  of  Small  Things.  207 

Cattle  and  horses  are  grazing  in  the  meadow,  and  the  dark 
patches  of  wire-grass  are  spangled  with  yellow  lupins,  and 
tinted  pink  in  places  with  patches  of  a  beautiful  orchid-like 
flower.  On  the  edge  of  this  pleasant-looking  tract  stand 
two  small  cottages,  and  to  one  of  these  we  are  welcomed 
by  its  Mormon  occupants.  To  me  the  whole  country  had 
an  aspect  of  desperate  desolation.  Yet  our  host  had  just 
come  back  from  "the  Post;"  his  children  were  away  "at 
school ;"  the  newspaper  on  his  table  was  the  latest  we  had 
ourselves  seen.  It  is  true  that  the  post  was  literally  a  post, 
with  a  cigar-box  nailed  on  the  top  of  it.  standing  all  by 
itself  among  the  brushwood  on  the  roadside.  The  school 
was  a  mile  or  two  off,  "just  over  the  hill,"  and,  till  the 
regular  teacher  came,  a  volunteer  was  making  shift  to  impart 
education  to  the  little  scholars  who  came  straggling  over 
the  dreary  hill-sides  by  twos  and  threes.  Yet,  rudimentary 
though  they  be,  these  are  the  first  symptoms  of  a  civilization 
triumphing  over  sage-brush,  and  give  even  to  such  despe- 
rately small  beginnings  a  significance  that  is  very  interesting. 
All  the  thriving  settlements  I  have  visited  began  exactly  in 
the  same  way— and  under  worse  conditions,  too,  for  the 
Indian  was  then  a  stronger  power  than  the  Mormon. 

Our  host  here  had  shot  among  the  reeds  in  his  meadow  a 
large  bird,  the  size  of  an  average  goose,  black  with  white 
spots,  which  he  had  been  told  was  "a  loon."  It  was  one  of 
the  larger  "  divers,"  its  neck  being  very  long  and  snake-like, 
terminating  in  a  comparatively  small  head,  its  wings  very 
short  and  its  legs  (the  feet  webbed)  set,  as  in  all  diving  birds, 
far  back  on  the  body. 

Leaving  this  very  young  "  settlement,"  we  found  our- 
selves again  in  a  wretched,  waterless  country,  where  the 
vegetation  did  not  compensate  for  its  monotony  by  any 
attractions  of  colour,  nor  the  mountains  for  their  baldness 


208  Sinners  and  Saints. 

by  any  variety  of  contour.  Here  and  there  stunted  cedars 
had  huddled  together  for  company  into  a  gulch,  as  if  afraid 
to  be  scattered  about  singly  on  such  lonesome  hill-sides,  and 
away  on  the  right,  in  a  dip  under  the  hills,  we  caught  a 
glimpse  of  Marysvale. 

Traversing  this  forbidding  tract,  we  met  another  waggon 
on  its  way  to  Munroe,  and  stopping  to  exchange  greetings, 
it  suddenly  occurred  to  one  of  the  strangers  that  by  our 
exchanging  vehicles  the  horses  and  their  teamsters  would 
both  be  going  home  instead  of  away  from  it,  and  thus 
everybody  be  advantaged  !  The  exchange  was  accordingly 
effected,  our  teamster  getting  two  Bishops  in  exchange  for 
an  Apostle  and  a  correspondent,  and  the  waggons  being 
turned  round  in  their  tracks,  the  teams,  to  their  uncon- 
cealed satisfaction,  started  off  towards  their  respective 
homes. 

Sage-brush  and  sand,  with  occasional  patches  of  tiresome 
rock  fragments  and  unlimited  lizards— nature's  hieroglyphics 
for  sultry  sterility— were  the  only  features  of  the  journey. 
Away  on  our  left,  however,  the  track  of  a  water-channel, 
that  when  completed  will  turn  many  thousands  of  these  arid 
acres  into  farm-lands,  scarred  the  red  hill-side,  and  told  the 
same  old  story  of  Mormon  industry.  Where  it  came  from 
I  have  forgotten,  where  it  was  going  to  I  do  not  remember, 
but  it  was  in  sight  off  and  on  for  some  thirty  miles,  and  was 
probably  carrying  the  waters  of  the  Sevier  on  to  the  Circle- 
ville  plains. 

We  are  there  ourselves  in  the  evening,  and  passing  through 
some  ploughed  land  and  meadow,  find  ourselves  upon  the 
wind-swept,  lonesome,  location  of 

THE  KINGS  OF  KINGSTON. 
Among  the  social  experiments  of  Mormonism,  the  family 


The  Kings  of  Kingston.  209 

communism  of  the  Kings  of  Kingston  deserves  a  special 
notice,  for,  though  in  my  own  opinion  it  is  a  failure,  both 
financially  and  socially,  the  scheme  is  probably  one  of  the 
most  curious  attempts  at  solving  a  great  social  problem  that 
was  ever  made. 

Kingston  is  the  name  of  a  hamlet  of  fifteen  wooden 
cottages  and  a  stock-yard  which  has  been  planted  in  the 
centre  of  one  of  the  most  desolate  plains  in  all  the  Utah 
Territory — a  very  Jehunnam  of  a  plain.  Piute  County,  in 
which  it  is  situated,  is,  as  a  rule,  a  most  forbidding  section  of 
country,  and  the  Kingston  "  Valley  "  is  perhaps  the  dreariest 
spot  in  it.  The  mountains,  stern  and  sterile,  ring  it  in  com- 
pletely, but  on  the  south-east  is  a  great  canon  which  might 
be  the  very  mouth  of  the  cavern  in  which  the  gods  used  to 
keep  their  winds,  for  a  persistent,  malignant  wind  is  per- 
petually sweeping  through  it  on  to  the  plain  below,  and  the 
soil  being  light  and  sandy,  the  people  live  for  part  of  the  year 
in  a  ceaseless  dust-storm.  One  year  they  sowed  300  acres  with 
wheat,  and  the  wind  simply  blew  the  crop  away.  That 
which  it  could  not  actually  displace,  it  kept  rubbed  down 
close  to  the  ground  by  the  perpetual  passage  of  waves  of 
sand.  They  planted  an  orchard,  but  some  gooseberry 
bushes  are  the  only  remaining  vestiges  of  the  plantation, 
and  even  these  happen  to  be  on  the  lee  side  of  a  solid 
fence.  They  also  set  out  trees  to  shade  their  houses,  but 
the  wind  worked  the  saplings  round  and  round  in  their 
holes,  so  that  they  could  not  take  root.  It  can  be  easily 
imagined,  therefore,  that  without  a  tree,  without  a  green 
thing  except  the  reach  of  meadow  land  at  the  foot  of  the 
hills,  the  Kingston  plain,  with  its  forlorn  fifteen  tenements, 
looks  for  most  of  the  year  desolation  itself.  That  any  one 
should  ever  have  settled  there  is  a  mystery  to  all ;  that  he 
should  have  remained  there  is  a  simple  absurdity,  a  very 

p 


2 1  o  Sinners  and  Saints. 

Jumbo  of  a  folly.  Yet  here,  after  five  years  of  the  most- 
dismal  experiences,  I  found  some  twenty  households  in 
occupation. 

At  the  time  when  Brigham  Young  was  exerting  himself  to 
extend  the  "  United  Order  "  (of  which  more  when  I  come 
to  Orderville),  one  of  the  enthusiasts  who  embraced  its 
principles  was  a  Mr.  King,  of  Fillmore.  He  was  a  pros- 
perous man,  with  a  family  well  settled  about  him.  Never- 
theless, he  determined  from  motives  of  religious  philanthropy 
to  begin  life  anew,  and  having  sold  off  all  that  he  possessed  he 
emigrated  with  his  entire  family  into  the  miserable  Piute 
country,  selected  in  an  hour  of  infatuation  the  Kingston — 
then  "  Circleville " — location,  and  announced  that  he  was 
about  to  start  a  co-operative  experiment  in  farming  and 
general  industry  on  the  basis  of  a  household,  with  patri- 
archal government,  a  purse  in  common,  and  a  common 
table  for  all  to  eat  at  together. 

Having  been  permitted  to  examine  the  original  articles  of 
enrolment,  dated  May  i,  1877 — a  document,  by  the  way, 
curiously  characteristic  of  the  whole  undertaking,  being  a 
jumble  of  articles  and  by-laws  written  on  a  few  slips  of 
ordinary  paper,  a  miracle  of  unworldly  simplicity  and  in 
very  indifferent  spelling — I  found  the  objects  of  "  the 
company,"  as  it  is  called,  were  "  agricultural,  manufacturing, 
commercial,  and  other  industrial  pursuits,"  and  the  establish- 
ment and  maintenance  of  "colleges,  seminaries,  churches, 
libraries,  and  any  other  charitable  or  scientific  association^/ 
It  was  to  be  superintended  by  a  Board,  who  were  to  be 
elected  by  a  majority  of  the  members,  and  to  receive  for  their 
services  "  the  same  wages  as  are  paid  to  farm  hands  or 
other  common  labourers." 

To  become  members  of  this  Family  Order  it  was  neces- 
sary that  they  should  "  bequeath,  transfer,  and  convey  into 


A  Family  Company.  2 1 1 

the  company  all  their  right,  title,  and  interest  to  whatever 
property,  whether  personal  or  real  estate,  that  they  were 
then  possessed  of,  or  might  hereafter  become  possessed  of 
by  legacy,  will,  or  otherwise  for  the  purposes  above  men- 
tioned, and  further  that  they  would  labour  faithfully  and 
honourably  themselves,  and  cause  their  children  who  were 
under  age  to  labour  under  the  direction  of  the  Board  of 
Directors,  the  remuneration  for  which  shall  be  as  fixed  by  the 
board  both  as  to  price  and  kind  of  pay  he  or  she  shall 
receive."  It  was  "furthermore  understood  and  agreed  that 
a  schedule  or  inventory  of  all  property  bequeathed  or  trans- 
ferred to  the  company  should  be  kept,  together  with  the 
price  of  each  article,  that  in  case  any  party  becomes  dis- 
satisfied or  is  called  away,  or  wishes  to  draw  out,  he  can 
have  as  near  as  may  be  the  same  kind  of  property,  but  in  no 
case  can  he  have  real  estate,  only  at  the  option  of  the 
Board,  nor  shall  interest  or  a  dividend  be  paid  on  such 
property." 

"  We  further  agree  "  (so  run  the  articles  of  this  curious 
incorporation)  "  that  we  will  be  controlled  and  guided  in  all 
our  labour,  in  our  Tood,  clothing,  and  habitations  for  our 
families  "  (by  the  Board),  "  being  frugal  arid  economical  in 
our  manner  of  living  and  dress,  and  in  no  case  seek  to 
obtain  that  which  is  above  another." 

"  We  also  covenant  and  agree  that  all  credits  for  labour 
that  stand  to  our  names  in  excess  of  debits  for  food  and 
clothing,  shall  become  the  property  of  the  company." 

In  these  four  articles  is  contained  the  whole  of  the 
principles  of  this  astonishing  experiment.  Men  were  to 
sell  their  all,  and  put  the  proceeds  into  a  family  fund. 
Out  of  this,  as  the  wages  of  their  labour,  they  were  to 
receive  food  and  other  necessaries  to  the  value  of  $i  a 
day,  and  if  at  the  end  of  the  year  their  drawings  exceeded 

p  2 


2 1 2  Sinners  and  Saints. 

the  amount  of  work  put  in  the  company  "  forgave  "  them 
the  excess,  while  if  their  earnings  exceeded  their  drawings, 
they  "forgave"  the  company.  Thus  the  accounts  were 
annually  squared  by  reciprocal  accommodation. 

If  anyone  seceded  from  the  Order,  he  was  entitled  to  receive 
back  exactly  what  he  had  contributed.  Mr.  King,  the  father, 
started  by  putting  in  some  $20,000,  and  his  sons  and 
others  following  suit,  the  fund  rose  at  once  to  some  $40,000. 
(I  would  say  here  that  the  entirely  original  method  of 
"  keeping  the  books  "  makes  balance-striking  a  difficulty. ) 
With  this  sum,  and  so  much  labour  at  their  disposal,  the 
Family  Company  should  have  been  a  brilliant  success.  But 
several  circumstances  conspired  disastrously  against  it. 
The  first  was  the  unfortunate  selection  of  location,  for,  in 
spite  of  the  quantity  of  promising  land  available  elsewhere, 
Mr.  King  pitched  his  camp  in  the  wretched  sand-drifts  of 
the  Piute  section.  The  next  was  the  ill-advised  generosity 
of  the  founders  in  inviting  all  the  country  round  to  come 
and  join  them,  with  or  without  means,  so  long  as  they 
would,  be  faithful  members  of  the  Order.  The  result,  of 
course,  was  an  influx  of  "  deadheads  " — the  company  in- 
deed having  actually  to  send  out  waggons  to  haul  in 
families  who  were  too  poor  to  be  able  to  move  themselves. 
Of  these  new-comers  only  a  proportion  were  worth  any- 
thing to  the  young  settlement,  for  many  came  in  simply 
for  the  certainty  of  a  roof  over  their  heads  and  sufficient 
food.  The  result  was  most  discouraging,  and  in  a  short 
time  the  more  valuable  adherents  were  disheartened,  and 
began  to  fall  off,  and  now,  five  years  from  the  establish 
ment  of  the  company,  there  are  only  some  twenty  families 
left,  and  these  are  all  Kings  or  relatives  of  the  Kings. 
The  father  himself  is  dead,  but  four  sons  divide  the 
patriarchal  government  between  them,  and,  having  again 


Self -Sacrifice.  213 


reduced  the  scheme  to  a  strictly  family  concern,  they  are 
thinking  of  a  fresh  start. 

What  may  happen  in  the  future  is  not  altogether  certain, 
but  it  will  be  strange  if  in  this  country  where  individual 
industry,  starting  without  a  dollar,  is  certain  of  a  com- 
petence, co-operative  labour  commencing  with  funds  in 
hand  does  not  achieve  success.  At  present  the  company 
possesses,  besides  its  land  in  the  valley,  and  a  mill  and 
a  woollen  factory,  both  commencing  work,  cattle  and  sheep 
worth  about  $10,000,  and  horses  worth  some  $12,000 
more.  This  is  a  tolerable  capital  for  an  association  of 
hard-working  men  to  begin  with,  but  it  is  significant  of 
errors  in  the  past  that  after  five  years  of  almost  superhuman 
toil  they  should  find  themselves  no  better  off  materially 
than  when  they  started.  Nor,  socially,  has  the  experiment 
hitherto  been  a  success,  for  Kingston  is,  in  my  opinion, 
beyond  comparison  the  lowest  in  the  scale  of  all  the 
Mormon  settlements  that  I  have  seen.  It  is  poverty- 
stricken  in  appearance ;  its  houses  outside  and  inside 
testify,  in  unmended  windows  and  falling  plaster,  to  an 
absence  of  that  good  order  which  characterizes  so  many 
other  villages.  The  furniture  of  the  rooms  and  the  quality 
of  the  food  on  the  tables  are  poorer  than  elsewhere,  and 
altogether  it  is  only  too  evident  that  this  family  communism 
has  dragged  all  down  alike  to  the  level  of  the  poorest  and 
the  laziest  of  its  advocates,  rather  than  raised  all  up  to  the 
level  of  the  best  off  and  the  hardest  working.  The  good 
men  have  sunk,  the  others  have  not  risen,  and  if  it  were 
not  so  pathetic  the  Kingston  phenomenon  would  be 
exasperating. 

But  there  is  a  very  sincere  pathos  about  this  terrible 
sacrifice  of  self  for  the  common  good.  I  do  not  mean 
theoretically,  but  practically.  The  men  of  "  the  company  " 


214  Sinners  and  Saints. 

are  the  most  saddening  community  I  have  ever  visited. 
They  seem,  with  their  gentle  manners,  wonderful  simplicity 
of  speech,  and  almost  womanly  solicitude  for  the  welfare  of 
their  guests,  to  have  lost  the  strong,  hearty  spirit  which 
characterizes  these  Western  conquerors  of  the  deserts. 
Yet  even  the  hard-working  Mormons  speak  of  them  as 
veritable  heroes  in  work.  It  is  a  common  thing  to  hear 
men  say  that  "  the  Kingston  men  are  simply  killing  them- 
selves with  toil  •"  and  when  Western  men  talk  of  work 
as  being  too  hard,  you  may  rely  upon  it  it  is  something 
very  exceptional.  Almost  against  hope  these  peasants  have 
struggled  with  difficulties  that  even  they  themselves  confess 
seem  insuperable.  They  have  given  Nature  all  the  odds 
they  could,  and  then  gone  on  fighting  her.  The  result 
has  been  what  is  seen  to-day — a  crushed  community  of 
men  and  enfeebled  women,  living  worse  than  any  other 
settlement  on  the  whole  Mormon  line.  Their  own  stout 
hearts  refuse  to  believe  that  they  are  a  failure ;  but  failure 
is  written  in  large  capital  letters  on  the  whole  hamlet,  and 
in  italics  upon  every  face  within  it.  The  wind-swept  sand- 
drifts  in  which  the  settlement  stands,  the  wretchedness 
of  the  tenements  and  their  surroundings,  the  haphazard 
composition  of  their  food,  their  black  beans  and  their 
buffalo  berries,  the  whistling  of  the  wind  as  it  drives  the 
sand  through  the  boards  of  the  houses,  the  howling  of  the 
coyotes  round  the  stock-yard  — everything  from  first  to  last 
was  in  accord  to  emphasize  the  desperate  desolation.  But 
those  who  have  known  them  for  all  the  five  years  that  the 
experiment  has  been  under  trial  declare  that  their  present 
condition,  lamentable  as  it  is,  is  an  improvement  upon 
their  past.  When  they  ate  at  a  common  table,  the  living, 
it  is  said,  was  even  more  frugal  than  it  is  now,  and  there 
was  hardly  a  piece  of  crockery  among  them  all,  the 


A  Social  Failure.  215 

"family"  eating  and  drinking  out  of  tin  vessels.  The 
women,  either  from  mismanagement  among  themselves,  or 
want  of  order  among  the  men,  were  unable  to  bear  the 
burden  of  ceaseless  cooking,  and  the  common  table  was 
thereupon  abandoned  by  a  unanimous  vote. 

Yet  they  are  courtesy  and  hospitality  itself,  and  their 
sufferings  have  only  clinched  their  piety.  They  have  not 
lost  one  iota  of  their  faith  in  their  principles,  though 
staggering  under  the  conviction  of  failure.  Their  children 
have  regular  schooling,  the  women  are  scrupulously  neat 
in  their  dress,  while  profanity  and  intemperance  are  un- 
known. 


2 1 6  Sinners  and  Saints. 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

FROM   KINGSTON   TO   ORDERVILLE. 

On  the  way  to  Panguitch — Section-houses  not  Mormon  homes — > 
Through  wild  country — Panguitch  and  its  fish — Forbidden  plea- 
sures— At  the  source  of  the  Rio  Virgin — The  surpassing  beauty  of 
Long  Valley — The  Orderville  Brethren — A  success  in  Family 
Communism. 

NEXT  day  we  started  over  the  hills  for  Panguitch,  some  forty 
miles  off.  And  here,  by  the  roadside,  was  pointed  out  to 
me  one  of  those  "  section-houses "  which  a  traveller  in 
Utah  once  mistook  for  Mormon  "  homes,"  and  described 
as  "  cabins,  ten  feet  by  six,  built  of  planks,  one  window 
with  no  glass  in  it,  one  doorway  with  no  door  in  it."  This 
is  an  accurate  description  enough  of  a  section-house,  but  it 
is  a  mistake  to  suppose  that  any  one  ever  lives  in  it,  as 
section-houses  are  only  put  up  to  comply  with  the  Home- 
stead Act,  which  stipulates  for  a  building  with  one  doorway 
and  one  window  being  erected  upon  each  lot  within  a 
certain  period  of  its  allotment.  But  they  do  duty  all  the 
same  in  a  certain  class  of  literature  as  typical  of  the  squalid 
depravity  of  the  Mormons,  for,  being  inhabited  by  Mormons, 
it  follows,  of  course,  that  several  wives,  to  say  nothing  of 
numerous  children,  have  all  to  sleep  together  "  on  the  floor 
of  the  single  room  the  house  contains  !  "  Isn't  this  a 
dreadful  picture  !  And  are  not  these  large  polygamous 
families  who  live  in  section-houses  a  disgrace  to  America  ? 


Through  Rural  Scenes.  2 1 7 

But,  unfortunately  for  this  telling  picture,  the  only  "  inhabi- 
tants "  of  these  section-houses  are  Gentile  tramps. 

A  rough  hill-road,  strewn  with  uncompromising  rocks, 
jolted  us  for  some  miles,  and  then  we  crossed  a  stream- 
bed  with  some  fine  old  pines  standing  in  it,  and  beds  of 
blue  lupins  brightening  the  margin,  and  so  came  down  to  the 
river  level,  and  along  a  lane  running  between  hedges  of  wild- 
rose  and  redberry  (the  "  opie  "  of  the  Indians)  tangled  with 
clematis  and  honeysuckle,  and  haunted  by  many  birds  and 
brilliant  butterflies.  The  river  bubbled  along  among  thickets 
of  golden  currant  and  red  willow,  and  mallards  with  russet 
heads  floated  in  the  quiet  backwaters,  by  the  side  of  their 
dames  all  dressed  in  dainty  grey.  It  was  altogether  a 
charming  passage  in  a  day  of  such  general  dreariness,  re- 
minding one  of  a  pleasant  quotation  from  some  pretty  poem 
in  the  middle  of  a  dull  chapter  by  some  prosy  writer. 

But  the  dulness  recommences,  and  then  we  find  ourselves 
at  a  wayside  farm,  where  a  couple  of  fawns  with  bells  round 
their  necks  are  keeping  the  calves  company,  and  some  boys 
are  fishing  on  a  little  log  bridge.  These  fish  must  have 
been  all  born  idiots,  or  been  stricken  with  unanimous  lunacy 
in  early  youth,  for  the  manner  of  their  capture  was  this. 
The  angler  lay  on  his  stomach  on  the  "  bridge "  (it  was  a 
three  foot  and  a  half  stream),  with  one  eye  down  between 
two  of  the  logs.  When  he  saw  any  fish  he  thrust  his  "  rod  " 
— it  was  more  like  a  penholder — through  the  space,  and  held 
it  in  front  of  the  fishes'  noses.  At  the  end  of  the  rod  were 
some  six  inches  of  string,  with  a  hook  tied  on  with  a  large 
knot,  and  baited  with  a  dab  of  dough.  When  the  fish  had 
got  thoroughly  interested  in  the  dough,  the  angler  would 
jerk  up  his  rod,  and  by  some  unaccountable  oversight  on 
the  part  of  the  fishes  it  was  found  that  about  once  in  fifty 


2 1 8  Sinners  and  Saints. 

jerks  a  fish  came  up  out  of  the  water  !  They  seemed  to  me 
to  be  young  trout ;  but,  whatever  the  species,  they  must 
have  been  the  most  imbecile  of  finned  things.  I  suggested 
catching  them  with  the  finger  and  thumb,  but  the  boys 
giggled  at  me,  as  "  the  fish  wouldn't  let  ye."  But  I  am  of  a 
different  opinion,  for  it  seemed  to  me  that  fish  that  would 
let  you  catch  them  with  such  apparatus,  would  let  you 
catch  them  without  any  at  all. 

From  here  to  Panguitch  the  road  lies  through  stony 
country  of  the  prevalent  exasperating  type  until  we  reach 
the  precincts  of  the  settlement,  heralded  long  before  we 
reach  it  by  miles  of  fencing  that  enclose  the  grazing-land 
stretching  down  to  the  river.  A  detestable  road,  broken  up 
and  swamped  by  irrigation  channels,  leads  into  the  settle- 
ment, and  the  poor  impression  thus  received  is  not  removed 
as  we  pass  through  the  treeless  "  streets  "  and  among  the 
unfenced  lots.  But  it  is  an  interesting  spot  none  the  less, 
for  apart  from  its  future,  it  is  a  good  starting-point  for  many 
places  of  interest.  But  I  should  like  to  have  visited  Red 
Lake  and  Panguitch  Lake.  "  Panguitch,"  by  the  way, 
means  "fish"  in  the  red  man's  language,  and  it  is  no 
wonder,  therefore,  that  at  breakfast  we  enjoyed  one  of  the 
most  splendid  dishes  of  mountain-lake  trout  that  was  ever 
set  before  man.  It  is  a  great  fish  certainly — and  I  prefer  it 
broiled.  To  put  any  sauce  to  it  is  sheer  infamy. 

The  beaver,  by  the  way,  is  still  to  be  trapped  here,  and 
the  grizzly  bear  is  not  a  stranger  to  Panguitch. 

Looking  out  of  the  window  in  the  evening,  I  saw  a  cart 
standing  by  the  roadside,  and  a  number  of  men  round  it. 
Their  demeanour  aroused  my  curiosity,  for  an  extreme 
dejection  had  evidently  marked  them  for  its  own.  Some 
sate  in  the  road  as  if  waiting  in  despair  for  Doomsday; 
others  prowled  round  the  cart  and  leant  in  a  melancholy 


A  beautiful  Valley.  219 

manner  against  it.  The  cart,  it  appeared,  had  come  from 
St.  George,  the  vine-growing  district  in  the  south  of  the 
territory,  and  contained  a  cask  of  wine.  But  as  there  was 
no  licence  in  Panguitch  for  the  sale  of  liquors,  it  could  not 
be  broached  !  I  never  saw  men  look  so  wretchedly  thirsty 
in  my  life,  and  if  glaring  at  the  cask  and  thumping  it  could 
have  emptied  it,  there  would  not  have  been  a  drop  left.  It 
was  a  delightful  improvement  upon  the  tortures  of  Tantalus, 
but  the  victims  accepted  the  joke  as  being  against  them, 
and  though  they  watched  the  cart  going  away  gloomily 
enough,  there  was  no  ill-temper. 

From  Panguitch  to  Orderville,  fifty  miles,  the  scenery 
opens  with  the  dreary  hills  that  had  become  so  miserably 
familiar,  alternating  with  level  pasture-lands,  among  which 
the  serpentine  Sevier  winds  a  curiously  fantastic  course. 
But  gradually  there  grows  upon  the  mind  a  sense  of  coming 
change.  Verdure  creeps  over  the  plains,  and  vegetation 
steals  on  to  the  hill-sides,  and  then  suddenly  as  if  for  a 
surprise,  the  complete  beauty  of  Long  Valley  bursts  upon 
the  traveller.  I  cannot  in  a  few  words  say  more  of  it  than 
that  this  valley — through  which  the  Rio  Virgin  flows,  and 
in  which  the  Family  Communists  of  Orderville  have  pitched 
their  tents — rivals  in  its  beauty  the  scenery  of  Cashmere. 

Springing  from  a  hill-side,  beautiful  with  flowering  shrubs 
and  instinct  with  bird  life,  the  Virgin  River  trickles  through 
a  deep  meadow  bright  with  blue  iris  plants  and  walled  in  on 
either  side  by  hills  that  are  clothed  with  exquisite  vegetation, 
and  then,  collecting  its  young  waters  into  a  little  channel, 
breaks  away  prattling  into  the  valley.  Corn-fields  and 
orchards,  and  meadows  filled  with  grazing  kine,  succeed 
each  other  in  pleasant  series,  and  on  the  right  hand  and  on 
the  left  the  mountains  lean  proudly  back  with  their  loads  of 
magnificent  pine.  And  other  springs  come  tumbling  down 


220  Sinners  and  Saints. 

to  join  the  pretty  river,  which  flows  on,  gradually  widening 
as  it  goes,  past  whirring  saw-mills  and  dairies  half  buried 
among  fruit-trees,  through  park-like  glades  studded  with 
pines  of  splendid  girth,  and  pretty  brakes  of  berry-bearing 
trees  all  flushed  with  blossoms.  And  the  valley  opens  away 
on  either  side  into  grassy  glens  from  which  the  tinkle  of 
cattle-bells  falls  pleasantly  on  the  ear,  or  into  bold  canons 
that  are  draped  close  with  sombre  pines,  and  end  in  the 
mo'st  magnificent  cathedral  cliffs  of  ruddy  sandstone. 

What  lovely  bits  of  landscape  !  What  noble  studies  of 
rock  architecture !  It  is  a  very  panorama  of  charms,  and, 
travelled  widely  as  I  have,  I  must  confess  to  an  absolute 
novelty  of  delight  in  this  exquisite  valley  of 

THE  ORDERVILLE  BRETHREN. 

Among  the  projects  which  occupied  Joseph  Smith's  active 
brain  was  one  that  should  make  the  whole  of  the  Mormon 
community  a  single  family,  with  a  purse  in  common,  and  the 
head  of  the  Church  its  head.  In  theory  they  are  so  already. 
But  Joseph  Smith  hoped  to  see  them  so  in  actual  practice 
also,  and  for  this  purpose — the  establishment  of  a  universal 
family  communism — he  instituted  "  The  Order  of  Enoch," 
or  "  The  United  Order." 

Why  Enoch?  The  Mormons  themselves  appear  to  have 
no  definite  explanation  beyond  the  fact  that  Enoch  was  holy 
beyond  all  his  generation.  But  for  myself,  I  see  in  it  only 
another  instance  of  that  curious  sympathy  with  ancient 
tradition  which  Joseph  Smith,  and  after  him  Brigham 
Young,  so  consistently  showed.  They  were  both  of  them 
as  ignorant  as  men  could  be  in  the  knowledge  that  comes 
from  books,  and  yet  each  of  them  must  have  had  some 
acquaintance  with  the  mystic  institutions  of  antiquity,  or 
their  frequent  coincidence  with  primitive  ideas  and  schemes 


Among  the  Or  derm  lie  Brethren.       221 

appears  to  me  inexplicable.  No  man  can  in  these  days 
think  and  act  like  an  antediluvian  by  accident.  Josephus 
is,  I  find,  a  favourite  author  among  the  Mormons,  and 
Josephus  may  account  for  a  little.  Moreover,  many  of  the 
Mormons,  notably  both  Presidents,  are  or  were  Freemasons, 
and  this  may  account  for  some  more.  But  for  the  balance 
I  can  find  no  explanation.  Now  I  remember  reading 
somewhere — perhaps  in  Sir  Thomas  Browne — that  "the 
patriarchal  Order  of  Enoch  "  is  an  institution  of  prodigious 
antiquity  ;  that  Enoch  in  the  Hebrew  means  "  the  teacher;" 
that  he  was  accepted  in  prehistoric  days  as  the  founder  of  a 
self-supporting,  pious  socialism,  which  was  destined  (should 
destruction  overtake  the  world)  to  rescue  one  family  at  any 
rate  from  the  general  ruin,  and  perpetuate  the  accumulated 
knowledge  of  the  past.  And  it  is  exactly  upon  these  con- 
ditions that  we  find  Joseph  Smith,  fifty  years  ago,  promul- 
gating in  a  series  of  formulated  rules,  the  scheme  of  a 
patriarchal  "  Order  of  Enoch." 

All  Mormons  are  "  elect."  But  even  among  the  elect 
there  is  an  aristocracy  of  piety.  Thus  in  Islam  we  find  the 
Hajji  faithful  above  the  faithful.  In  Hindooism  the  brother- 
hood of  the  Coolinsis  accepted  by  the  gods  above  all  the  other 
"  twice-born."  Is  it  not,  indeed,  the  same  in  every  religion 
— that  there  are  the  chosen  within  the  chosen — "though 
they  were  mighty  men,  yet  they  were  not  of  the  three" — a 
tenth  legion  among  the  soldiers  of  Heaven — the  tf?r/$angels 
in  the  select  ministry  of  the  Supreme  ?  In  Mormonism, 
therefore,  if  a  man  chooses,  he  may  consecrate  himself  to  his 
faith  more  signally  than  his  fellows,  by  endowing  the  Church 
with  all  his  goods,  and  accepting  from  the  Church  after- 
wards the  "  stewardship  "  of  a  portion  of  his  own  property  ! 
It  is  no  mere  lip-consecration,  no  Ritualists'  "Order  of 
Jesus,"  no  question  of  a  phylactery.  It  means  the  absolute 


222  Sinners  and  Saints. 

transfer  of  all  property  and  temporal  interests,  and  of  all 
rights  of  all  kinds  therein,  to  the  Church  by  a  formal,  legal 
process,  and  a  duly  attested  deed.  Here  is  one  : — 

"  Be  it  known  by  these  presents,  that  I,  Jesse  W.  Fox,  of 
Great  Salt  Lake  City,  in  the  county  of  Great  Salt  Lake,  and 
territory  of  Utah,  for  and  in  consideration  of  the  sum  of  one 
hundred  ($100)  dollars  and  the  good- will  which  I  have  to 
the  Church  of  Jesus  Christ  of  Latter-Day  Saints,  give  and 
convey  unto  Brigham  Young,  trustee  in  trust  for  the  said 
Church,  his  successor  in  office  and  assigns,  all  my  claims  to 
and  ownership  of  the  following-described  property,  to  wit : 

One  house  and  lot    .        .         .        .         .  $1000 

One  city  lot      ......  100 

East  half  of  lot  i,  block  12        ...  50 

Lot  i,  block  14 75 

Two  cows,  $50  ;  two  calves,  $15     f .         .  65 

One  mare,  $100;  one  colt,  $50          .         .  150 

One  watch,  $20  ;  one  clock,  $12       .         ,  32 

Clothing,  $300;  beds  and  bedding,  $125  .  425 

One  stove,  $20  ;  household  furniture,  $210  230 

Total        .         .        .         ...  $2127 

together  with  all  the  rights,  privileges,  and  appurtenances 
thereunto  belonging  or  appertaining.  I  also  covenant  and 
agree  that  I  am  the  lawful  claimant  and  owner  of  said 
property,  and  will  warrant  and  for  ever  defend  the  same 
unto  the  said  trustee  in  trust,  his  successor  in  office  and 
assigns,  against  the  claims  of  my  heirs,  assigns,  or  any  person 
whomsoever." 

Then  follows  the  attestation  of  the  witness,  and  the  formal 
certificate  of  the  Judge  of  the  Probate  Court  that  "the 
signer  of  the  above  transfer,  personally  known  to  me, 


The  Order  of  Enoch.  223 

appeared  the  second  day  of  April,  1857,  and  acknowledged 
that  he,  of  his  own  choice,  executed  the  foregoing  transfer  " 

Such  transfers  of  property  are  not,  I  know,  infrequent  in 
other  religions,  notably  the  Roman  Catholic,  but  the  object 
of  the  Mormon's  piety  distinguishes  his  act  from  that  of 
others.  Had  Brigham  Young  persevered  in  his  prede- 
cessor's project,  it  is  almost  certain  that  he  would  have 
established  a  gigantic  "  company  "  that  would  have  controlled 
all  the  temporal  interests  of  the  territory,  and  eventually 
comprised  the  whole  Mormon  population.  It  is  just  pos- 
sible that  he  himself  foresaw  that  such  success  would  be 
ruin ;  that  the  foundations  of  the  Order  would  sink  under 
such  a  prodigious  superstructure,  for  he  diverted  his  atten- 
tion from  the  main  to  subsidiary  schemes.  Instead  of  one 
central  organization  sending  out  colonies  on  all  sides  of  it,  he 
advised  the  establishment  of  branch  communities,  which 
might  eventually  be  gathered  together  under  a  single  head- 
quarters' control.  The  two  projects  were  the  same  as  to 
results  ;  they  differed  only  as  to  the  means  ;  and  the  second 
was  the  more  judicious. 

A  few  individuals  came  forward  in  their  enthusiasm  to 
give  all  they  possessed  to  a  common  cause,  but  the  Order 
flagged,  though,  nominally,  many  joined  it.  Thus,  travelling 
through  the  settlements,  I  have  seen  in  a  considerable 
number  of  homes  the  Rules  of  the  Order  framed  upon  the 
walls.  At  any  time  these  would  be  curious ;  to-day,  when 
the  morality  of  the  principles  of  Mormonism  is  challenged, 
they  are  of  special  interest  : — 

"  RULES  THAT  SHOULD  BE  OBSERVED  BY  MEMBERS  OF  THE 
UNITED  ORDER. 

"  We  will  not  take  the  name  of  the  Deity  in  vain,  nor  speak 
lightly  of  His  character  or  of  sacred  things. 


224  Sinners  and  Saints. 

11  We  will  pray  with  our  families  morning  and  evening,  and 
also  attend  to  secret  prayer. 

"  We  will  observe  and  keep  the  Word  of  Wisdom  accord- 
ing to  the  spirit  and  the  meaning  thereof. 

"  We  will  treat  our  families  with  due  kindness  and  affection, 
and  set  before  them  an  example  worthy  of  imitation.  In 
our  families  and  intercourse  with  all  persons,  we  will  refrain 
from  being  contentious  or  quarrelsome,  and  we  will  cease 
to  speak  evil  of  each  other,  and  will  cultivate  a  spirit  of 
charity  towards  all.  We  consider  it  our  duty  to  keep  from 
acting  selfishly  or  from  covetous  motives,  and  will  seek  the 
interest  of  each  other  and  the  salvation  of  all  man- 
kind. 

"  We  will  observe  the  Sabbath  day  to  keep  it  holy,  in 
accordance  with  the  Revelations. 

"  That  which  is  committed  to  our  care  we  will  not  appro- 
priate to  our  own  use. 

"That  which  we  borrow  we  will  return  according  to 
promise,  and  that  which  we  find  we  will  not  appropriate  to 
our  own  use,  but  seek  to  return  it  to  its  proper  owner. 

"  We  will,  as  soon  as  possible,  cancel  all  individual  in- 
debtedness contracted  prior  to  our  uniting  with  the  order, 
and,  when  once  fully  identified  with  said  order,  will  contract 
no  debts  contrary  to  the  wishes  of  the  Board  of  Directors. 
"  We  will  patronize  our  brethren  who  are  in  the  order. 
"  In  our  apparel  and  deportment  we  will  not  pattern  after 
nor  encourage  foolish  and  extravagant  fashions,  and  cease 
to  import  or  buy  from  abroad  any  article  which  can  be 
reasonably  dispensed  with,  or  which  can  be  produced  by 
combination  of  home  labour.    We  will  foster  and  encourage 
the  producing  and  manufacturing  of  all  articles  needful  for 
our  consumption  as  fast  as  our  circumstances  will  permit. 
"We  will  be  simple  in  our  dress  and  manner  of  living, 


Practical  Piety.  225 


using  proper  economy  and  prudence  in  the  management 
of  all  intrusted  to  our  care. 

"  We  will  combine  our  labour  for  mutual  benefit,  sustain 
with  our  faith,  prayers,  and  works  those  whom  we  have 
elected  to  take  the  management  of  the  different  depart- 
ments of  the  order,  and  be  subject  to  them  in  their  official 
capacity,  refraining  from  a  spirit  of  fault-finding. 

"  We  will  honestly  and  diligently  labour  and  devote  our- 
selves and  all  we  have  to  the  order  and  to  the  building  up 
of  the  Kingdom  of  God." 

Under  these  general  regulations  a  great  number,  as  I  have 
said,  enrolled  themselves,  and  they  may  be  considered  there- 
fore to  constitute,  as  it  were,  a  Knight  Templar  com- 
mandery  within  a  Fellowcraft  lodge.  All  are  "  brethren ;" 
these  are  illustrious  brethren.  All  are  pashas ;  these  are 
"  of  many  tails."  All  are  mandarins  of  heaven ;  these  wear 
the  supreme  button. 

But  the  temporal  object  of  the  Order  was  not  served  by 
such  transfers  of  moral  obligations  ;  by  the  hypothecation 
of  personal  piety;  by  the  investment  of  spiritual  principles 
in  a  common  fund.  You  cannot  get  much  working  capital 
out  of  mortgages  on  a  man's  soul.  Calchas  complained 
bitterly  when  the  Athenian  public  paid  their  vows  to  the 
goddess  in  squashes.  The  collector,  he  said,  would  not 
take  them  in  payment  of  the  water-rates.  So  it  has  fared 
with  the  Order  of  Enoch.  It  is  wealthy  in  good  intentions, 
and  if  promises  were  dollars  could  draw  large  checks. 

Here  and  there,  however,  local  fervour  took  practical 
shape.  The  Kings  of  Kingston  planted  their  family  flag 
on  the  wind-swept  Circleville  plain.  At  Sunset  another 
communistic  colony  was.  established,  and  in  Long  Valley,  in 
the  canons  of  the  Rio  Virgin,  was  inaugurated  the  "  United 
Order  of  Orderville." 


226  Sinners  and  Saints. 

Situated  in  a  beautiful  valley  that  needs  nothing  more 
added  to  it  to  make  its  inhabitants  entirely  self-supporting ; 
directed  and  controlled  with  as  much  business  shrewdness 
as  fervent  piety ;  supported  by  its  members  with  a  sensible 
regard  for  mutual  interests— this  Orderville  experiment 
bids  fair  to  be  a  signal  success.  In  their  Articles  of 
Association  the  members  call  themselves  a  Corporation 
which  is  "  to  continue  in  existence  for  a  period  of  twenty- 
five  years,"  and  of  which  the  objects  are  every  sort  of 
"rightful"  enterprise  and  industry  that  may  render  the 
Order  independent  of  outside  produce  and  manufactures, 
"  consistent  with  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  and 
the  laws  of  this  Territory."  Its  capital  is  fixed  at  $100,000, 
in  10,000  shares  of  $10  each,  and  the  entire  control  of  its 
affairs  is  vested  in  a  board  of  nine  directors,  who  are 
elected  by  a  ballot  of  the  whole  community.  Article  13 
states  that  "the  individual  or  private  property  of  the 
stockholders  shall  not  be  liable  for  the  debts  or  obligations 
of  the  company."  Article  15  is  as  follows  :  "  The  directors 
shall  have  the  right  and  power  to  declare  dividends  on  said 
stock  whenever,  in  their  judgment,  there  are  funds  for  that 
purpose  due  and  payable." 

Now,  in  these  two  last  articles  lie  the  saving  principles  of 
the  Orderville  scheme,  Hitherto,  from  the  beginning  of 
the  world,  experiments  in  communism  have  always  split 
upon  this  rock,  namely,  that  individuality  was  completely 
crushed  out.  No  man  was  permitted  to  possess  "  private  " 
property — he  was  r enfant  de  la  Republique,  body  and  soul 
— and  no  man,  therefore,  had  sufficient  personal  identity 
to  make  it  possible  for  individual  profits  to  accrue  to  him. 
And  so  the  best  of  the  young  men — let  the  experiment 
be  at  any  date  in  history  you  like — became  dissatisfied 
with  the  level  at  which  they  were  kept,  and  they  seceded. 


Absorption  into  the  Order.  227 

m 

They  insisted  on  having  names  of  their  own,  and  refused 
to  be  merely,  like  the  members  of  a  jail  republic,  known 
by  numbers.  Individuality  and  identity  are  the  original 
data  of  human  consciousness.  They  are  the  first  solid 
facts  which  a  baby  masters  and  communicates ;  they  are 
the  last  that  old  age  surrenders  to  infirmity  and  death. 
But  in  Orderville,  it  will  be  seen,  the  notion  of  "private" 
property  exists.  It  is  admitted  that  there  is  such  a  thing 
as  "  individual "  ownership.  Moreover,  it  is  within  the 
power  of  the  board  to  pay  every  man  a  dividend.  This 
being  the  case,  this  particular  experiment  in  communism 
has  the  possibility  of  great  success,  for  its  members  are  not 
utterly  deprived  of  all  individuality.  They  have  some 
shreds  of  it  left  to  them. 

To  become  a  member  of  the  Order  there  is  no  qualifica- 
tion of  property  necessary.  The  aged  and  infirm  are 
accepted  in  charity.  Indeed,  at  one  time  they  threatened 
to  swamp  the  family  altogether,  for  the  brethren  seemed  to 
have  set  out  with  a  dead-weight  upon  them  heavier  than 
they  could  bear.  But  this  has  righted  itself.  The  working 
members  have  got  the  ship  round  again,  and  in  one  way  or 
another  a  place  and  a  use  has  been  found  for  every  one. 
Speaking  generally,  however,  membership  meant  the  hold- 
ing of  stock  in  the  corporation.  If  a  man  wished  to  join 
the  Order,  he  gave  in  to  the  Bishop  a  statement  of  his 
effects.  It  was  left  to  his  conscience  that  this  statement 
should  be  complete  and  exhaustive;  that  there  should  be 
no  private  reservations.  These  effects — whatever  they 
might  be,  from  a  farm  in  another  part  of  the  Territory  to 
the  clothes  in  his  trunk — were  appraised  by  the  regular 
staff,  and  the  equivalent  amount  in  stock,  at  $10  a 
share,  was  issued  to  them.  From  that  time  his  ownership 
in  his  property  ceased.  His  books  would  perhaps  go  into 

Q  2 


228  Sinners  and  Saints. 

the  school-house  library,  his  extra  blankets  next  door,  his 
horse  into  a  neighbour's  team.  According  to  his  capacities, 
also,  he  himself  fell  at  once  into  his  place  among  the 
workers,  going  to  the  woollen  factory  or  the  carpenter's 
shop,  the  blacksmith's  forge  or* the  dairy,  the  saw-mills  or 
the  garden,  the  grist-mill  or  the  farm,  according  as  his 
particular  abilities  gave  promise  of  his  being  most  useful. 
His  work  here  would  result,  as  far  as  he  was  personally 
concerned,  in  no  profits.  But  he  was  assured  of  a  com- 
fortable house,  abundant  food,  good  clothes.  The  main 
responsibilities  of  life  were  therefore  taken  off  his  shoulders. 
The  wolf  could  never  come  to  his  door.  He  and  his  were 
secured  against  hunger  and  cold.  But  beyond  this  ?  There 
was  only  the  approbation  of  his  companions,  the  reward  of 
his  conscience.  With  the  proceeds  of  his  labour,  or  by 
the  actual  work  of  his  own  hands,  he  saw  new  buildings 
going  up,  new  acres  coming  under  cultivation.  But  none 
of  them  belonged  to  him.  He  never  became  a  proprietor, 
an  owner,  a  master.  While  therefore  he  was  spared  the 
worst  responsibilities  of  life,  he  was  deprived  of  its  noblest 
ambitions.  He  lived  without  apprehensions,  but  without 
hopes  too.  If  his  wife  was  ill  or  his  children  sickly,  there 
were  plenty  of  kind  neighbours  to  advise  and  nurse  and 
look  after  them.  No  anxieties  on  such  matters  need  trouble 
him.  But  if  he  had  any  particular  taste — music,  botany, 
anything — he  was  unable  to  gratify  it,  unless  these  same 
kindly  neighbours  agreed  to  spend  from  the  common  fund 
in  order  to  buy  him  a  violin  or  a  flower-press — and  they 
could  hardly  be  expected  to  do  so.  Quite  apart  from  the 
fact  that  a  man  learning  to  play  a  new  instrument  is  an 
enemy  of  his  kind,  you  could  not  expect  a  community  of 
graziers,  farmers,  and  artisans  to  be  unanimously  enthusiastic 
about  the  musical  whims  of  one  of  their  number,  still  less 


The  Commonwealth  v.  Self.  229 

for  his  "  crank  "  in  collecting  "  weeds  " — as  everything  that 
is  not  eatable  (or  is  not  a  rose)  is  called  in  most  places 
of  the  West.  Tastes,  therefore,  could  not  be  cultivated 
for  the  want  of  means,  and  any  special  faculties  which 
members  might  individually  possess  were  of  necessity  kept 
in  abeyance.  Amid  scenery  that  might  distract  an  artist, 
|ind  fossil  and  insect  treasures  enough  to  send  men  of 
science  crazy,  the  community  can  do  nothing  in  the 
direction  of  Art  or  of  Natural  History,  unless  they  all  do  it 
together,  For  the  Order  cannot  spare  a  man  who  may  be 
a  good  ploughman,  to  go  and  sit  about  in  the  canons 
painting  pictures  of  pine-trees  and  waterfalls.  Nor  can  it 
spare  the  money  that  may  be  needed  for  shingles  in  buying 
microscopes  for  a  "  bug-hunter."  The  common  prosperity, 
therefore,  can  only  be  gained  at  a  sacrifice  of  all  individual 
tastes.  This  alone  is  a  very  serious  obstacle  to  success  of 
the  highest  kind.  But  in  combination  with  this  is  of  course 
the  more  general  and  formidable  fact  that  even  in  the 
staple  industries  of  the  community  individual  excellence 
brings  with  it  no  individual  benefits.  A  moral  trades- 
unionism  planes  all  down  to  a  level.  It  does  not,  of 
course,  prevent  the  enthusiast  working  his  very  hardest  and 
best  in  the  interests  of  his  neighbours.  But  such  enthusiasm 
is  hardly  human.  Men  will  insist,  to  the  end  of  all  time, 
on  enjoying  the  reward  of  their  own  labours,  the  triumphs 
of  their  own  brains.  Some  may  go  so  far  as  nominally 
to  divide  their  honours  with  all  their  friends.  But  where 
shall  we  look  for  the  man  who  will  go  on  all  his  life  toiling 
successfully  for  the  good  of  idler  folks,  and  checking  his 
own  free  stride  to  keep  pace  with  their  feebler  steps  ?  And 
this  is  the  rock  on  which  all  such  communities  inevitably 
strike. 

Security   from   the   ordinary  apprehensions    of    life;    a 


230  Sinners  and  Saints. 

general  protection  against  misfortune  and  "  bad  seasons  •" 
the  certainty  of  having  all  the  necessaries  of  existence,  are 
sufficient  temptations  for  unambitious  men.  But  the 
stronger  class  of  mind,  though  attracted  to  it  by  piety,  and 
retained  for  a  while  by  a  sincere  desire  to  promote  the  com- 
mon good,  must  from  their  very  nature  revolt  against  a  perma- 
nent alienation  of  their  own  earnings,  and  a  permanent 
subordination  of  their  own  merits.  At  Orderville,  there- 
fore, we  find  the  young  men  already  complaining  of  a 
system  which  does  not  let  them  see  the  fruits  of  their  work. 
Their  fathers'  enthusiasm  brought  them  there  as  children. 
Seven  years  later  they  are  grown  up  into  independent- 
minded  young  men.  They  have  not  had  experience  of 
family  anxieties  yet.  All  they  know  is,  that  beyond 
Orderville  there  are  larger  spheres  of  work,  and  more 
brilliant  opportunities  for  both  hand  and  head. 

Fortunately,  however,  for  Orderville,  the  articles  of  incor- 
poration give  the  directors  the  very  powers  that  are  neces- 
sary, and  if  these  are  exercised  the  ship  may  miss  the 
rock  that  has  wrecked  all  its  predecessors.  If  they  can 
declare  dividends,  open  private  accounts,  and  realize  the 
idea  of  personal  property,  the  difference  in  possibilities 
between  the  outer  world  and  Orderville  will  be  very  greatly 
reduced,  while  the  advantage  of  certainties  in  Orderville 
will  be  even  further  increased.  Young  men  would  then 
think  twice  about  going  away,  and  any  one  if  he  chose 
could  indulge  his  wife  with  a  piano  or  himself  with  a  box 
of  water-colours.  Herein  then  lies  the  hopefulness  of  the 
experiment;  and  fortunately  Mr.  Howard  Spencer,  the 
President  of  the  community,  has  all  the  generosity  to 
recognize  the  necessity  for  concession  to  younger  ambition, 
and  all  the  courage  to  institute  and  carry  out  a  modification 
of  communism  which  shall  introduce  more  individuality. 


An  Eden  of  Industry.  231 

I  anticipate,  therefore,  that  this  very  remarkable  and 
interesting  colony  will  survive  the  "twenty-five  years" 
period  for  which  it  was  established,  and  will  encourage  the 
foundation  of  many  other  similar  "  Family  Orders." 

Seven  years  have  passed  since  Mr.  Spencer  pitched  his 
camp  in  the  beautiful  wilderness  of  the  Rio  Virgin  canons. 
He  found  the  hills  of  fine  building-stone,  their  sides  thickly 
grown  with  splendid  pine  timber,  and  down  the  valley 
between  them  flowing  a  bright  and  ample  stream.  The 
vegetation  by  its  variety  and  luxuriance  gave  promise  of  a 
fertile  soil ;  some  of  the  canons  formed  excellent  natural 
meadows,  while  just  over  the  ridge,  a  mile  or  two  from  the 
settlement,  lay  a  bed  of  coal.  Finally,  the  climate  was 
delightfully  temperate  !  Every  condition  of  success,  there- 
fore, was  found  together,  and  prosperity  has  of  course 
responded  to  the  voice  of  industry.  Acre  by  acre  the 
wild  gardens  have  disappeared,  and  in  their  place  stand 
broad  fields  of  corn;  the  tangled  brakes  of  wild-berry 
plants  have  yielded  their  place  to  orchards  of  finer  fruits ; 
cattle  and  sheep  now  graze  in  numbers  where  the  antelope 
used  to  feed  ;  and  from  slope  to  slope  you  can  hear  among 
the  pines,  above  the  idle  crooning  of  answering  doves 
and  the  tinkling  responses  of  wandering  kine,  the  glad 
antiphony  of  the  whirring  saw-mill  and  the  busy  loom. 

The  settlement  itself  is  grievously  disappointing  in 
appearance.  For  as  you  approach  it,  past  the  charming 
little  hamlet  of  Glendale,  past  such  a  sunny  wealth  of 
orchard  and  meadow  and  corn-land,  past  such  beautiful 
glimpses  of  landscape,  you  cannot  help  expecting  a  scene  of 
rural  prettiness  in  sympathy  with  such  surroundings.  But 
Orderville  at  first  sight  looks  like  a  factory.  The  wooden 
shed-like  buildings  built  in  continuous  rows,  the  adjacent 
mills,  the  bare,  ugly  -patch  of  hillside  behind  it,  give  the 


232  Sinners  and  Saints. 

actual  settlement  an  uninviting  aspect.  But  once  within 
the  settlement,  the  scene  changes  wonderfully  for  the  better. 
The  houses  are  found,  the  most  of  them,  built  facing  in- 
wards upon  an  open  square,  with  a  broad  side-walk,  edged 
with  tamarisk  and  mulberry,  box-elder  and  maple-trees,  in 
front  of  them.  Outside  the  dwelling-house  square  are 
scattered  about  the  school-house,  meeting-house,  black- 
smith and  carpenters'  shops,  tannery,  woollen-mill,  and  so 
forth,  while  a  broad  roadway  separates  the  whole  from  the 
orchards,  gardens,  and  farm-lands  generally.  Specially 
noteworthy  here  are  the  mulberry  orchard — laid  out  for  the 
support  of  the  silk-worms,  which  the  community  are  now 
rearing  with  n|pch  success — and  the  forcing-ground  and 
experimental  garden,  in  which  wild  flowers  as  well  as 
"  tame  "  are  being  cultivated.  Among  the  buildings  the 
more  interesting  to  me  were  the  school-houses,  well  fitted 
up,  and  very  fairly  provided  with  educational  apparatus  ;  and 
the  rudimentary  museum,  where  the  commencement  of  a 
collection  of  the  natural  curiosities  of  the  neighbourhood  is 
displayed.  What  this  may  some  day  grow  into,  when 
science  has  had  the  chance  of  exploring  the  surrounding 
hills  and  canons,  it  is  difficult  to  say  :  for  Nature  has  favoured 
Orderville  profusely  with  fossil  strata  and  mineral  eccentri- 
cities, a  rich  variety  of  bird  and  insect  life,  and  a  prodigious 
botanical  luxuriance.  Almost  for  the  first  time  in  my 
travels,  too,  I  found  here  a  very  intelligent  interest  taken  in 
the  natural  history  of  the  locality ;  but  the  absence  of  books 
and  of  necessary  apparatus,  as  yet  of  course  prevents  the 
brethren  from  carrying  on  their  studies  and  experiments  to 
any  standard  of  scientific  value. 

Though  staying  in  Orderville  so  short  a  time,  I  was 
fortunate  enough  to  see  the  whole  community  together. 
For  on  the  evening  of  my  arrival  there  was  a  meeting  at 


The  Baby  in  Public.  233 

which  there  was  a  very  full  gathering  of  the  adults — and  the 
babies  in  arms.  The  scene  was  as  curious  as  anything  I 
have  ever  witnessed  in  any  part  of  the  world.  The  audience 
was  almost  equally  composed  of  men  and  women,  the  latter 
wearing,  most  of  them,  their  cloth  sun-bonnets,  and  bring- 
ing with  them  the  babies  they  were  nursing. 

Brigham  Young  used  to  encourage  mothers  to  bring  them, 
and  said  that  he  liked  to  hear  them  squalling  in  the  Taber- 
nacle. Whether  he  really  liked  it  or  not,  the  mothers  did  as 
he  said,  and  the  babies  too,  and  the  perpetual  bleating  of 
babies  from  every  corner  of  the  building  makes  it  seem  to 
this  day  as  if  religious  service  was  being  held  in  a  sheep- 
fold.  Throughout  the  proceedings  at  Orq^erville  babies 
were  being  constantly  handed  across  from  mother  to  neigh- 
bour and  back  from  neighbour  to  mother.  Others  were 
being  tossed  up  and  down  with  that  jerky,  perpendicular 
motion  which  seems  so  soothing  to  the  very  young,  but 
which  reminded  me  of  the  popping  up  and  down  of  the 
hammers  when  the  "  lid  "  of  a  piano  is  lifted  up  during  a 
performance.  But  the  baby  is  an  irrepressible  person,  and 
at  Orderville  has  it  very  much  its  own  way.  The  Apostle's 
voice  in  prayer  was  accepted  as  a  challenge  to  try  their 
lungs,  and  the  music  (very  good,  by  the  way)  as  a  mere 
obligate  to  their  own  vocalization.  The  patient  gravity  of 
the  mothers  throughout  the  whole  performance,  and  the 
apparent  indifference  of  the  men,  struck  me  as  very  curious 
— for  I  come  from  a  country  where  one  baby  will  plunge  a 
whole  church  congregation  into  profanity,  and  where  it  is 
generally  supposed  that  two  crying  together  would  empty 
heaven.  Of  the  men  of  Orderville  I  can  say  sincerely  that 
a  healthier,  more  stalwart  community  I  have  never  seen, 
while  among  the  women,  I  saw  many  refined  faces,  and 
remarked  that  robust  health  seemed  the  rule.  Next 


234  Sinners  and  Saints, 

morning  the  children  were  paraded,  and  such  a  brigade 
of  infantry  as  it  was  !  Their  legs  (I  think,  though,  they  are 
known  as  "  limbs "  in  America)  were  positively  columnar, 
and  their  chubby  little  owners  were  as  difficult  to  keep 
quietly  in  line  as  so  much  quicksilver.  Orderville  boasts 
that  it  is  self-supporting  and  independent  of  outside  help, 
and  certainly  in  the  matter  of  babies  there  seems  no  neces- 
sity for  supplementing  home  manufactures  by  foreign 
imports.  The  average  of  births  is  as  yet  five  in  each  family 
during  the  six  years  of  the  existence  of  the  Order !  Two 
were  born  the  day  I  arrived. 

Unfortunately  one  of  the  most  characteristic  features  of 
this  family  community  was  in  abeyance  during  my  visit — 
the  common  dining-table.  For  a  rain-flood  swept  through 
the  gorge  above  the  settlement  last  winter  and  destroyed 
"  the  bakery."  Since  then  the  families  have  dined  apart  or 
clubbed  together  in  small  parties,  but  the  wish  of  the 
majority  is  to  see  the  old  system  revived,  for  though  they 
live  well  now,  they  used,  they  say,  to  live  even  better  when 
"  the  big  table"  was  laid  forks  200  guests  at  once. 

Self-supporting  and  well-directed,  therefore,  the  Orderville 
"  communists  "  bid  fair  to  prove  to  the  world  that  pious 
enthusiasm,  if  largely  tempered  with  business  judgment,  can 
make  a  success  of  an  experiment  which  has  hitherto  baffled 
all  attempts  based  upon  either  one  or  the  other  alone. 


235 


CHAPTER   XIX. 

MORMON   VIRTUES. 

Red  ants  and  anti-Mormons — Ignorance  of  the  Mormons  among 
Gentiles  in  Salt  Lake  City — Mormon  reverence  for  the  Bible — 
Their  struggle  against  drinking-saloons  in  the  city — Conspicuous 
piety  in  the  settlements— Their  charity— Their  sobriety  (to  my  great 
^inconvenience) — The  literature  of  Mormonism  utterly  unreliable — 
Neglect  of  the  press  by  the  Saints — Explanation  of  the  wide-spread 
misrepresentation  of  Mormonism. 

FROM  Orderville  (after  a  short  tour  in  the  south-west  of 
the  Territory)  I  returned  to  Salt  Lake  City,  and  during  my 
second  sojourn  there,  over  a  month,  I  saw  nothing  and 
learned  nothing  either  from  Mormon  or  Gentile  to  induce 
me  to  erase  a  single  word  I  had  written  during  my  previous 
visit.  Indeed,  a  better  acquaintance  only  strengthened  my 
first  favourable  opinions  of  "  the  Saints  of  the  Rocky 
Mountains." 

I  was  walking  one  day  up  the  City  Creek,  when  I  became 
aware  of  an  aged  man  seated  on  a  stone  by  the  roadside. 
His  trousers  were  turned  up  to  his  knees,  and  he  was 
nursing  one  of  his  legs  as  if  he  felt  a  great  pity  for  it.  As 
I  approached  I  perceived  that  he  was  in  trouble — (I  per- 
ceived this  by  his  oaths) — and  getting  still  nearer  I  ventured 
to  inquire  what  annoyed  him.  "  Aged  person,"  said  I, 
"  what  aileth  thee  ?  "—or  words  to  that  effect.  But  there 
was  no  response,  at  least  not  worth  mentioning.  He  only 


236  Sinners  and  Saints. 

bent  further  over  his  leg,  and  I  noticed  that  his  coat  had 
split  down  the  back  seam.  His  cursing  accounted  for  that. 
It  was  sufficient  to  make  any  coat  split.  And  then  his 
hat  fell  off  his  head  into  the  dust,  in  judgment  upon  him. 
At  this  he  swore  again,  horribly.  By  this  time  I  had  guessed 
that  he  had  been  bitten  by  red  ants  (and  they  are  the 
shrewdest  reptiles  at  biting  that  I  know  of),  so  I 
said,  "Bitten  by  red  ants,  eh?"  At  this  he  ex- 
ploded with  wrath,  and  looked  up.  And  such  a  face  ! 
He  had  a  countenance  on  him  like  the  ragged  edge  of 
despair.  His  appearance  was  a  calamity.  "  Red  ants" 
said  he ;  "  red  Indians,  red  devils,  red  hell !  "  and  then, 
relapsing  into  the  vernacular,  he  became  unintelligibly 
profane,  but  ended  up  with  "  this  damned  Mormon  city" 

Now  here  was  a  man,  fairly  advanced  in  years,  fairly 
clothed,  fairly  uneducated.  As  I  had  never  seen  hirn 
before,  he  may  have  been,  for  all  I  know,  "  the  average 
American  "  I  so  often  see  referred  to.  Anyhow,  there  he 
was,  cursing  the  Mormons  because  he  had  been  bitten 
by  red  ants  !  Of  his  own  stupidity  he  had  gone  and  stood 
upon  an  ants'  nest,  thrust  his  hippopotamus  foot  into  their 
domicile,  overwhelming  the  nurseries  and  the  parlours  in 
a  common  catastrophe,  crushing  with  the  same  heel  the 
grandsire  ant  and  the  sucking  babe  at  its  mother's  breast, 
mashing  up  the  infirm  and  the  feeble  with  the  eggs  in  the 
cells  and  the  household  provisions  laid  up  in  the  larder — 
ruining  in  fact  an  industrious  community  simply  by  his  own 
weight  in  butcher's  meat.  Some  of  the  survivors  promptly 
attacked  the  intruding  boot,  and,  running  up  what  the  old 
man  was  pleased  to  call  "  his  blasted  pants,"  had  bitten 
the  legs  which  they  found  concealed  within  them.  And  for 
this,  "  the  average  American "  cursed  the  Mormons  and 
their  city  ! 


A  nts  and  A  nti- Mormons.  237 

The  incident  interested  me,  for,  apart  from  my  sympathy 
with  the  ants,  I  couldn't  help  thinking  what  a  powerful 
adversary  to  Mormonism  this  trifling  mishap  might  have 
created.  That  man  went  back  to  his  hotel  (for  he  was 
evidently  a  "  visitor ")  a  confirmed  ^^//-Mormon.  His 
darkest  suspicions  about  polygamy  were  confirmed.  His 
detestation  of  the  bestial  licentiousness  of  the  Saints  was 
increased  a  hundred-fold.  He  saw  at  a  glance  that  all  he  had 
ever  heard  about  "  the  Danites  "  was  quite  true,  and  hiuch 
more  too  that  he  had  never  heard  but  could  now  easily  in- 
vent for  himself.  There  was  no  need  for  any  one  to  tell 
him,  after  the  way  he  had  been  treated  within  a  mile  of  the 
Tabernacle,  of  the  infamous  debaucheries  of  Brigham 
Young  with  his  "Cyprian  maids"  and  his  "cloistered 
wives."  Wasn't  it  as  plain  as  the  sun  at  noonday  that  the 
Mormons  were  in  league  with  the  red  Indians,  and  went 
halves  in  the  proceeds  of  each  other's  massacres  ? 

The  ant-bitten  man  was  a  very  typical  "  Mormon-eater," 
for  such  is  the  local  name  of  those  who  revile  Mormonism 
root  and  branch  because  they  find  intelligent  men  opposed 
to  polygamy.  They  are  under  the  impression,  seeing  and 
talking  to  nobody  but  each  other,  that  the  United  States  in 
a  mass,  that  the  whole  world,  entertain  an  unreasoning, 
fanatical  abhorrence  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  Territory,  and 
share  with  them  their  mean  parochial  jealousy  of  the  Mor- 
mon tradesmen  and  Mormon  farmers  who  are  more  thriving 
than  they  are  themselves, 

Here  in  Salt  Lake  City  there  is  the  most  extraordinary 
ignorance  of  Mormonism  that  can  be  imagined.  I  have 
actually  been  assured  by  "  Gentiles  "  that  the  Saints  do  not 
believe  in  the  God  of  the  Bible— that  adultery  among  them 
is  winked  at  by  husbands  under  a  tacit  understanding  of 
reciprocity — that  the  Mormons  as  a  class  are  profane,  and 


Sinners  and  Saints. 


drunken,  and  so  forth.  Now,  if  they  knew  anything  what- 
ever of  the  Mormons,  such  statements  would  be  impossible 
(unless  of  course  made  in  wilful  malice),  for  my  personal  ac- 
quaintance with  "  the  Saints  "  has  shown  me  that  in  all  classes 
alike  the  reverence  for  the  God  of  the  Bible  is  formulated 
not  only  in  their  morning  and  evening  prayers,  but  in  their 
grace  before  every  meal ;  that  so  far  from  there  being  any 
exceptional  familiarity  between  families,  the  very  reverse  is 
conspicuous,  for  so  strict  is  the  Mormon  etiquette  of  social 
courtesies,  that  households  which  in  England  would  be  on 
the  most  intimate  terms,  maintain  here  a  distant  formality 
which  impresses  the  stranger  as  being  cold  ;  that  instead  of 
the  Mormons  being  as  a  class  profane,  they  are  as  a  class 
singularly  sober  in  their  language,  and  indeed  in  this  respect 
resemble  the  Quakers.  Now,  my  opinions  are  founded 
upon  facts  of  personal  knowledge  and  experience. 

Of  course  it  will  be  said  of  me  that  as  I  was  a  "  guest "  of 
Mormons  I  was  "  bound  "  to  speak  well  of  them  ;  that  as  I 
was  so  much  among  them  I  was  hoodwinked  and  "  shown 
the  best  side  of  everything,"  &c.,  &c.  Against  this  argument, 
always  the  resource  of  the  gobemouche,  common  sense  is 
useless.  "  Against  stupidity  the  gods  themselves  are  power- 
less." But  this  I  can  say — that  I  will  defy  any  really  im- 
pure household,  monogamous  or  not,  to  hoodwink  me  in 
the  same  way — to  keep  up  from  morning  to  night  the  same 
unchanging  profession  of  piety,  to  make  believe  from  week 
to  week  with  such  consummate  hypocrisy  that  they  are  god- 
fearing and  pure  in  their  lives,  and  to  wear  a  mask  of  sobriety 
with  such  uniform  success.  And  I  am  not  speaking  of 
one  household  only,  but  of  a  score  to  which  I  was  admitted 
simply  as  being  a  stranger  from  whom  they  need  not 
fear  calumny.  I  do  not  believe  that  acting  exists  anywhere 
in  such  perfection  that  a  whole  community  can  assume,  at  a 


Gentile  abuses  of  Power.  239 

few  hours'  notice  and  for  the  benefit  of  a  passing  stranger,  the 
characters  of  honest,  kind-hearted,  simple  men  and  women, 
and  set  themselves  patiently  to  a  three  months'  comedy  of 
pretended  purity.  Such  impostors  do  not  exist. 

The  Mormons  drunken  !  Now  what,  for  instance,  can 
be  the  conclusion  of  any  honest  thinker  from  this  fact — 
that  though  I  mixed  constantly  with  Mormons,  all  of 
them  anxious  to  show  me  every  hospitality  and  courtesy, 
I  was  never  at  any  time  asked  to  take  a  glass  of  strong 
drink  ?  If  I  wanted  a  horse  to  ride  or  to  drive  I  had 
a  choice  at  once  offered  me.  If  I  wanted  some  one  to 
go  with  me  to  some  point  of  interest,  his  time  was  mine. 
Yet  it  never  occurred  to  them  to  show  a  courtesy  by 
suggesting  "  a  drink." 

Then,  seriously,  how  can  any  one  have  respect  for  the 
literature  or  the  men  who,  without  knowing  anything  of  the 
lives  of  Mormons,  stigmatize  them  as  profane,  adulterous, 
and  drunken  ?  As  a  community  I  know  them,  from  per- 
sonal advantages  of  observation  such  as  no  non-Mormon 
writer  has  ever  previously  possessed,1  to  be  at  any  rate  ex- 
ceptionally careful  in  maintaining  the  appearance  of  piety 
and  sobriety;  and  I  leave  it  to  my  readers  to  judge  whether 
such  solid  hypocrisy  as  this,  that  tries  to  abolish  all  swear- 
ing and  all  strong  drink  both  by  precept  from  the  pulpit  and 
example  in  the  household,  is  not,  after  all,  nearly  as  admira- 
ble as  the  real  thing  itself. 

This,  at  all  events,  is  beyond  doubt — that  the  Mormons 
have  always  struggled  hard  to  prevent  the  sale  of  liquor  in 
Salt  Lake  City,  except  under  strict  regulations  and  super- 
vision. But  the  fight  has  gone  against  them.  The  courts  up- 
hold the  right  of  publicans  to  sell  when  and  what  they  choose; 
and  the  Mormons,  who  could  at  one  time  boast — and  visi- 
1  Except,  of  course,  General  Kane. 


240  Sinners  and  Saints. 


tors  without  number  have  borne  evidence  to  the  fact — that 
a  drunkard  was  never  to  be  seen,  an  oath  never  to  be  heard, 
in  the  streets  of  theii  city,  have  now  to  confess  that,  thanks 
to  the  example  of  Gentiles,  they  have  both  drunkards  and 
profane  men  among  them.  But  the  general  attitude  of  the 
Church  towards  these  delinquents,  and  the  sorrow  that  their 
weakness  causes  in  the  family  circle,  are  in  themselves  proofs 
of  the  sincerity  in  sobriety  which  distinguishes  the  Mor- 
mons. Nor  is  it  any  secret  that  if  the  Mormons  had  the 
power  they  would  to-morrow  close  all  the  saloons  and  bars, 
except  those  under  Church  regulation,  and  then,  they  say, 
"  we  might  hope  to  see  the  old  days  back  when  we  never 
thought  of  locking  our  doors  at  night,  and  when  our  wives 
and  girls,  let  them  be  out  ever  so  late,  needed  no  escort  in 
the  streets." 

And  having  travelled  throughout  the  Mormon  settlements, 
I  am  at  a  loss  how  to  convey  to  my  readers  with  any 
brevity  the  effect  which  the  tour  has  had  upon  me. 

I  have  seen,  and  spoken  to,  and  lived  with,  Mormon  men 
and  women  of  every  class,  and  never  in  my  life  in  any 
Christian  country,  not  even  in  happy,  rural  England, 
have  I  come  in  contact  with  more  consistent  piety,  so- 
briety, and  neighbourly  charity.  x  I  say  this  deliberately. 
Without  a  particle  of  odious  sanctimony  these  folk  are, 
in  their  words  and  actions,  as  Christian  as  I  had  ever 
thought  to  see  men  and  women.  A  perpetual  spirit 
of  charity  seems  to  possess  them,  and  if  the  prayers  of 
simple,  devout  humanity  are  ever  of  any  avail,  it  must 
surely  be  this  wonderful  Mormon  earnestness  in  appeals  to 
Heaven.  I  have  often  watched  Moslems  in  India  praying, 
and  thought  then  that  I  had  seen  the  extremity  of  devotion, 
but  now  that  I  have  seen  these  people  on  their  knees  in 
their  kitchens  at  morning  and  at  night,  and  heard  their  old 


Ignorant  Calumny.  241 

men — men  who  remember  the  dark  days  of  the  Faith — 
pour  out  from  their  hearts  their  gratitude  for  past  mercy, 
their  pleas  for  future  protection,  I  find  that  I  have  met 
with  even  a  more  striking  form  of  prayer  than  I  have 
ever  met  with  before.  Equally  striking  is  the  universal 
reverence  and  affection  with  which  they,  quite  unconscious 
of  the  fact  that  I  was  "  taking  notes,"  spoke  of  the  authori- 
ties of  their  Church.  Fear  there  was  none,  but  respect 
and  love  were  everywhere.  It  would  be  a  bold  man  who, 
in  one  of  these  Mormon  hamlets,  ventured  to  repeat  the 
slanders  current  among  Gentiles  elsewhere.  And  it  would 
indeed  be  a  base  man  who  visited  these  hard-living, 
trustful  men  and  women,  and  then  went  away  to  calumniate 
them. 

But  it  is  a  fact,  and  cannot  be  challenged,  that  the  only 
people  in  all  Utah  who  libel  these .  Mormons  are  either 
those  who  are  ignorant  of  them,  those  who  have  apostatized 
(frequently  under  compulsion)  from  the  Church,  or  those,  the 
official  clique  and  their  sycophants,  who  have  been  charged 
with  looking  forward  to  a  share  of  the  plunder  of  the  Terri- 
torial treasury.  On  the  other  hand,  I  know  many  Gentiles 
who,  though  like  myself  they  consider  polygamy  itself 
detestable,  speak  of  this  people  as  patterns  to  themselves 
in  commercial  honesty,  religious  earnestness,  and  social 
charity. 

Travelling  through  the  settlements,  I  found  that  every 
one  voluntarily  considered  his  poorer  neighbours  as  a  charge 
upon  himself.  When  a  man  arrives  there,  a  stranger  and 
penniless,  one  helps  to  get  together  logs  for  his  first  hut, 
another  to  break  up  a  plot  of  ground.  A  third  lends  him 
his  waggon  to  draw  some  firewood  from  the  canon  or  hill- 
side; a  fourth  gives  up  some  of  his  time  to  show  him  how 
to  bring  the  water  on  to  his  ground — and  so  on  through 

R 


242  Sinners  and  Saints. 

all  the  first  requirements  of  the  forlorn  new-comer.  Behind 
them  all  meanwhile  is  the  Church,  in  the  person  of  the 
presiding  Elder  of  the  settlement,  who  makes  him  such  ad- 
vances as  are  considered  necessary.  It  is  a  wonderful  system, 
and  as  pathetic,  to  my  mind,  as  any  struggle  for  existence 
that  I  have  ever  witnessed.  But  every  man  who  comes 
among  them  is  another  unit  of  strength,  and  let  him  be 
only  a  straight-spoken,  fair-dealing  fellow,  with  his  heart 
in  his  work,  and  he  finds  every  one's  hand  ready  to  assist 
him. 

And  the  first  commencement  is  terribly  small.  A  one- 
roomed  log  hut  is  planted  in  a  desert  of  sage-brush  "  with 
roots  that  hold  as  firm  as  original  sin,"  and  rocks  that  are 
as  hard  to  get  rid  of  as  bad  habits,  Borrowing  a  plough 
here,  and  a  shovel  there,  the  new-comer  bungles  through 
an  acre  or  two  of  furrows,  and  digs  out  a  trench.  Begging 
of  one  neighbour  some  fruit-tree  cuttings,  he  sticks  the 
discouraging  twigs  into  the  ground,  and  by  working  out 
some  extra  time  for  another  gets  some  lucerne  seed.  Then 
he  gets  a  hen,  and  then  a  setting  of  eggs,  by-and-by  a 
heifer,  and  a  little  later,  by  putting  in  work  or  by  an 
advance  from  the  Church,  or  with  kindly  help  from  a 
neighbour,  he  adds  a  horse  to  his  stock.  Time  passes,  say 
a  year ;  his  orchard  (that  is  to  be)  has  several  dozen  leaves 
on  it,  and  the  ground  is  all  green  with  lucerne,  the  chickens 
are  thriving,  and  he  adds  an  acre  or  two  more  to  the  first 
patch,  and  his  neighbours,  seeing  him  in  earnest,  are  still 
ready  with  their  advice  and  aid.  Adobe  bricks  are  gradually 
piled  up  in  a  corner  of  the  lot,  and  very  soon  an  extra 
room  or  two  is  built  on  to  the  log  hut,  and  saplings  of 
cotton-wood,  or  poplar,  or  locust  are  planted  in  a  row 
before  the  dwelling :  and  so  on  year  by  year,  conquering 
a  little  more  of  the  sage-brush,  bringing  on  the  water  a 


Sincerity  in  Religion.  243 

furlong  further,  adding  an  outhouse,  planting  another  tree. 
At  the  end  of  ten  years — years  of  unsparing,  untiring 
labour,  but  years  brightened  with  perpetual  kindness  from 
neighbours — this  man,  the  penniless  emigrant,  invites  the 
wayfarer  into  his  house,  has  a  comfortably  furnished  bed- 
room at  his  service,  oats  and  fodder  for  his  team,  ample 
and  wholesome  food  for  all.  The  wife  spreads  the  table 
with  eggs  and  ham  and  chicken,  vegetables,  pickles,  and 
preserves,  milk  and  cream,  pies  and  puddings, — "  Yes,  sir, 
all  of  our  own  raising."  The  dismal  twigs  have  grown  up 
into  pleasant  shade -trees,  and  a  flower-garden  brightens 
the  front  of  the  house.  In  the  barn  are  comfortable,  well- 
fed  stock,  horses  and  cows.  This  is  no  fancy  picture,  but 
one  from  life,  and  typical  of  20,000  others.  Each  home- 
stead in  turn  has  the  same  experience,  and  it  is  no  wonder, 
therefore,  when  the  settlement,  properly  laid  out  and  or- 
ganized, grows  into  municipal  existence,  that  every  one 
speaks  kindly  of,  and  acts  kindly  towards,  his  neighbour. 
A  visitor,  till  he  understands  the  reason,  is  surprised  at 
the  intimacy  of  households.  But  when  he  does  understand 
it,  ought  not  his  surprise  to  give  place  to  admiration  ? 

Not  less  conspicuous  is  the  uniform  sincerity  in  religion. 
A  school  and  meeting-house  is  to  be  found  in  every 
settlement,  even  though  there  may  be  only  half-a-dozen 
families,  and  besides  the  regular  attendance  of  the  people 
at  weekly  services,  the  private  prayers  of  each  household 
are  as  punctual  as  their  meals.  In  these  prayers,  after  the 
ordinary  generalities,  the  head  of  the  house  usually  prays 
for  all  the  authorities  of  the  Church,  from  the  President 
downwards,  for  the  local  authorities,  for  the  Church  as  a 
body,  and  the  missionaries  abroad,  for  his  household  and 
its  guest,  for  the  United  States,  and  for  Congress,  and 
for  all  the  world  that  feels  kindly  towards  Mormonism. 

R    2 


244  Sinners  and  Saints. 

But  quite  apart  from  the  matter  of  their  prayers,  their 
manner  is  very  striking,  and  the  scene  in  a  humble 
house,  when  a  large  family  meets  for  prayer — and  half  the 
members,  finding  no  article  of  furniture  unoccupied  for 
the  orthodox  position  of  devotion,  drop  into  attitudes  of 
natural  reverence,  kneeling  in  the  middle  of  the  floor — 
appeals  very  strongly  to  the  eye  of  those  accustomed  tc 
the  stereotyped  piety  of  a  more  advanced  civilization. 

One  more  conspicuous  feature  of  Mormon  life  is  sobriety 
I  have  been  the  guest  of  some  fifty  different  households, 
and  only  once  I  was  offered  even  beer.  That  exception 
was  in  a  Danish  household,  where  the  wife  brewed  her 
own  "  61 " — an  opaque  beverage  of  home-fermented  wheat 
and  home-grown  hops — as  a  curiosity  curious,  as  an  "in- 
dulgence "  doubtful,  as  a  regular  drink  impossible.  On 
no  other  occasion  was  anything  but  tea,  coffee,  milk,  or 
water  offered.  And  even  tea  and  coffee,  being  discouraged 
by  the  Church,  are  but  seldom  drunk.  As  a  heathen 
outsider  I  deplored  my  beer,  and  was  grateful  for  coffee ; 
but  the  rest  of  the  household,  in  almost  every  instance, 
drank  water.  Tobacco  is  virtually  unused.  It  is  used, 
but  so  seldom  that  it  does  not  affect  my  statement.  The 
spittoon,  therefore,  though  in  every  room,  is  behind  the 
door,  or  in  a  corner  under  a  piece  of  furniture.  In  case 
it  should  be  needed,  it  is  there — like  the  shot-gun  upstairs — 
but  its  being  called  into  requisition  would  be  a  family  event. 

No,  let  their  enemies  say  what  they  will,  the  Mormon 
settlements  are  each  of  them  to-day  a  refutation  of  the  libel 
that  the  Mormons  are  not  sincere  in  their  antipathy  to 
strong  drink  and  tobacco.  That  individual  Mormons  drink 
and  smoke  proves  nothing,  except  that  they  do  it.  For  the 
great  majority  of  the  Mormons,  they  are  strictly  sober.  I 
know  it  to  my  great  inconvenience. 


Mormon  Apathy  under  Libel.  245 

Is  it  possible  then  that  the  American  people,  so  generous 
in  their  impulses,  so  large-hearted  in  action,  have  been 
misled  as  to  the  true  character  of  the  Mormon  "  problem  "  ? 
At  first  sight  this  may  seem  impossible.  A  whole  people, 
it  will  be  said,  cannot  have  been  misled.  But  I  think  a 
general  misapprehension  is  quite  within  the  possibilities. 

Whence  have  the  public  derived  their  opinions  about 
Mormonism  ?  From  anti-Mormons  only.  I  have  ransacked 
the  literature  of  the  subject,  and  yet  I  really  could  not 
tell  any  one  where  to  go  for  an  impartial  book  about 
Mormonism  later  in  date  than  Burton's  "  City  of  the 
Saints,"  published  in  1862.  Burton,  it  is  well  known, 
wrote  as  a  man  of  wide  travel  and  liberal  education — 
catholic,  therefore,  on  all  matters  religious,  and  generous 
in  his  views  of  ethical  and  social  obliquities,  sympathetic, 
consistent,  and  judicial.  It  is  no  wonder,  then,  that 
Mormons  remember  the  distinguished  traveller,  in  spite  of 
his  candour,  with  the  utmost  kindness.  But  put  Burton 
on  one  side,  and  I  think  I  can  defy  any  one  to  name 
another  book  about  the  Mormons  worthy  of  honest  respect. 
From  that  truly  awful  book,  "  The  History  of  the  Saints," 
published  by  one  Bennett  (even  an  anti-Mormon  has 
styled  him  "the  greatest  rascal  that  ever  came  to  the 
West  ")  in  1842,  down  to  Stenhouse's  in  1873,  there  is  not, 
to  my  knowledge,  a  single  Gentile  work  before  the  public 
that  is  not  utterly  unreliable  from  its  distortion  of  facts. 
Yet  it  is  from  these  books — for  there  are  no  others — that 
the  American  public  has  acquired  nearly  all  its  ideas  about 
the  people  of  Utah. 

The  Mormons  themselves  are  most  foolishly  negligent 
of  the  power  of  the  press,  and  of  the  immense  value  in 
forming  public  opinion  of  a  free  use  of  type.  They  affect 
to  be  indifferent  to  the  clamour  of  the  world,  but  when  this 


246  Sinners  and  Saints. 

clamour  leads  to  legislative  action  against  them,  they  turn 
round  petulantly  with  the  complaint  that  there  is  a  universal 
conspiracy  against  them.  It  does  not  seem  to  occur  to 
them  that  their  misfortunes  are  partly  due  to  their  own 
neglect  of  the  very  weapons  which  their  adversaries  have 
used  so  diligently,  so  unscrupulously,  and  so  successfully. 

They  do  not  seem  to  understand  that  a  public  contradic- 
tion given  to  a  public  calumny  goes  some  way  towards 
correcting  the  mischief  done,  or  that  by  anticipating  ma- 
licious versions  of  events  they  could  as  often  as  not  get 
an  accurate  statement  before  the  public,  instead  of  an 
inaccurate  one.  But  enterprise  in  advertisement  has  been 
altogether  on  the  side  of  the  anti- Mormons.  The  latter 
never  lose  an  opportunity  of  throwing  in  a  bad  word, 
while  the  Mormons  content  themselves  with  "  rounding 
their  shoulders,"  as  they  are  so  fond  of  saying,  and  putting 
a  denial  of  the  libel  into  the  local  News.  They  say  they  are 
so  accustomed  to  abuse  that  they  are  beginning  not  to  care 
about  it — which  is  the  old,  stupid  self-justification  of  the 
apathetic.  The  fascination  of  a  self-imposed  martyrdom 
seems  too  great  for  them,  and,  like  flies  when  they  are  being 
wrapped  up  into  parcels  by  the  spider  for  greater  con- 
venience of  transportation  to  its  larder,  they  sing  chastened 
canticles  about  the  inevitability  of  cobwebs  and  the  de- 
plorable rapacity  of  spiders. 

"  I  can  assure  you,"  said  one  of  them,  "  it  would  be  of 
no  use  trying  to  undeceive  the  public.  You  cannot  make  a 
whistle  out  of  a  pig's  tail,  you  know." 

"  Nonsense,"  I  replied.  "  You  can — for  I  have  seen  a 
whistle  made  out  of  a  pig's  tail.  And  it  is  in  a  shop  in  Chi- 
cago to  this  day  !  " 

It  will  be  understood,  then,  that  the  Mormons  have  made 
no  adequate  efforts  either  in  books  or  the  press  to  meet 


How  the  Public  are  Misled.  247 

their  antagonists.  They  prefer  to  allow  cases  against  them 
to  go  by  default,  and  content  themselves  with  privately  filing 
pleas  in  defence  which  would  have  easily  acquitted  them 
had  they  gone  before  the  public.  America,  therefore, 
hearing  only  one  side  of  the  case,  and  so  much  of  it,  is 
certainly  not  to  be  blamed  for  drawing  its  conclusions 
from  the  only  facts  before  it.  It  cannot  be  expected 
to  know  that  three  or  four  individuals,  all  of  them  by  their 
own  confession  "Mormon-eaters,"  have  from  the  first  been 
the  purveyors  of  nearly  all  the  distorted  facts  it  receives. 
Seeing  the  same  thing  said  in  many  different  directions,  the 
general  public  naturally  conclude  that  a  great  number  of 
persons  are  in  agreement  as  to  the  facts. 

But  the  exigencies  of  journalism  which  admit,  for  in- 
stance, of  the  same  correspondent  being  a  local  contri- 
butor to  two  or  three  score  newspapers  of  widely  differing 
views  in  politics  and  religion,  are  unknown  to  them. 
And  they  are  therefore  unaware  that  the  indignation  so 
widely  printed  throughout  America  has  its  source  in  the 
personal  animosity  of  three  or  four  individuals  only  who  are 
bitterly  sectarian,  and  that  these  men  are  actually  personally 
ignorant  of  the  country  they  live  in,  have  seldom  talked  to 
a  Mormon,  and  have  never  visited  Mormonism  outside 
Salt  Lake  City.  These  men  write  of  the  "  squalid  poverty" 
of  Mormons,  of  their  obscene  brutality,  of  their  unceasing 
treason  towards  the  United  States,  of  their  blasphemous 
repudiation  of  the  Bible,  without  one  particle  of  information 
on  the  subject,  except  such  as  they  gather  from  the  books 
and  writings  of  men  whom  they  ought  to  know  are  utterly 
unworthy  of  credit,  or  from  the  verbal  calumnies  of  apostates. 
And  what  the  evidence  of  apostates  is  worth  history  has 
long  ago  told  us.  I  am  now  stating  facts;  and  I,  who 
have  lived  among  the  Mormons  and  with  them,  who 


248  Sinners  and  Saints. 

have  seen  them  in  their  homes,  rich  and  poor  ;  have  joined 
in  their  worship,  public  and  private  ;  who  have  constantly 
conversed  with  them,  men,  women,  and  children;  who 
have  visited  their  out-lying  settlements,  large  and  small — 
as  no  Gentile  has  ever  done  before  me — can  assure  my 
readers  that  every  day  of  my  residence  increased  my  regret 
at  the  misrepresentation  these  people  have  suffered. 


The  Ontario  Mine,  249 


CHAPTER  XX. 

DOWN   THE   ONTARIO   MINE. 

" Been  down  a  mine!  What  on  earth  did  you  do  that 
for  ?  "  said  the  elder  Sheridan  to  the  younger. 

"  Oh,  just  to  say  that  I  had  done  it,"  was  the  reply. 

"  To  say  that  you  had  done  it !  Good  gracious ! 
Couldn't  you  have  said  that,  without  going  down  a  mine  ?  " 

No,  Mr.  Sheridan,  you  could  not ;  at  least  not  in  these 
latter  days.  Too  many  people  do  it  now  for  the  impostor 
to  remain  undiscovered.  Take  my  own  case,  for  instance. 
I  had  often  read  descriptions  of  mine  descents,  and 
thought  I  knew  how  it  happened,  and  how  ore  was  got 
out.  But  no  one  ever  told  me  that  you  had  to  go  paddling 
about  in  water  half  the  time,  or  that  mines  were  excavated 
upwards.  Now,  then,  if  I  had  tried  to  pretend  that  I  had 
been  down  a  mine  I  should  have  been  promptly  found 
out,  by  my  ignorance  of  the  two  first  facts  that  strike  one. 
Again,  it  is  very  simple  work  imagining  the  descent  of  a 
"  shaft "  in  a  "  cage."  But  unfortunately  a  cage  is  only 
a  platform  to  stand  on  without  either  sides  or  top,  and  not, 
therefore,  such  a  cage  as  one  would  buy  to  keep  a  bird  in,  or 
as  would  keep  a  bird  in  if  one  did  buy  it.  Nor,  without 
actually  experiencing  it,  could  anybody  guess  that  the  first 
sensation  of  whizzing  down  a  pipe,  say  800  feet,  is  that 


250  Sinners  and  Saints. 

of  seeming  to  lose  all  your  specific  gravity,  and  that  the 
next  (after  you  had  partially  collected  your  faculties)  is  that 
you  are  stationary  yourself,  but  that  the  dripping  timbers 
that  line  the  shaft  are  all  flying  upwards  past  you  like 
sparks  up  a  chimney. 

Mines,  of  course,  differ  from  one  another  just  as  the 
men  who  go  down  them  do,  but  as  far  as  I  myself  am 
concerned  all  mines  are  puddly  places,  and  the  sensa- 
tions of  descent  are  ridiculous — for  I  have  only  been  down 
two  in  my  life,  and  both  "demned,  damp,  moist,  un- 
pleasant "  places.  But  the  mine  to  which  I  now  refer  is 
the  "  Ontario,"  in  Utah,  which  may  be  said,  in  the  pre- 
posterous vernacular  of  the  West,  to  be  a  "  terrible  fine  " 
mine,  or,  in  other  words,  "  a  boss  mine,"  that  is  to  say, 
"a  daisy." 

As  for  daisies,  anything  that  greatly  takes  the  fancy 
or  evokes  especial  admiration  is  called  a  daisy.  Thus 
I  heard  a  very  much  respected  Mormon  Bishop,  who 
is  also  a  director  of  a  railway,  described  by  an  enthusiastic 
admirer  as  "  a  daisy  !  " 

Finding  myself  in  Park  "  City "  one  evening — it  is  a 
mining  camp  dependent  chiefly  upon  the  Ontario — I  took 
a  walk  up  the  street  with  a  friend.  Every  other  house 
appeared  to  be  a  saloon,  with  a  doctor's  residence  sand- 
wiched in  between — a  significantly  convenient  arrangement 
perhaps  in  the  days  when  there  was  no  "  Protective  Com- 
mittee "  in  Park  City,  but — so  I  am  told — without  much 
practical  benefit  to  the  public  in  these  quiet  days,  when 
law-abiding  citizens  do  their  own  hanging,  without  troubling 
the  county  sheriff,  who  lives  somewhere  on  the  other  side 
of  a  distance.  The  result  of  this  is  that  bad  characters 
do  not  stay  long  enough  in  Park  City  now  to  get  up  free 
fights,  and  make  work  for  the  doctors.  The  Protective 


The  Ontario  Mine.  251 

Committee  invites  them  to  "  git "  as  soon  as  they  arrive, 
and,  to  do  them  credit,  they  do  "git." 

However,  as  I  was  saying,  I  took  a  walk  with  a  friend 
along  the  street,  and  presently  became  aware  above  me, 
high  up  on  the  hillside,  of  a  great  collection  of  buildings, 
with  countless  windows  (I  mean  that  I  did  not  try  to 
count  them)  lit  up,  and  looking  exactly  like  some,  theatrical 
night-scene.  These  were  the  mills  of  the  Ontario,  which 
work  night  and  day,  and  seven  days  to  the  week,  a  per- 
petual flame  like  that  of  the  Zoroastrians,  and  as  carefully 
kept  alive  by  stalwart  stokers  as  ever  was  Vestal  altar-fire 
by  the  girl-priestesses  of  Rome.  It  was  a  picturesque 
sight,  with  the  huge  hills  looming  up  black  behind,  and 
the  few  surviving  pine-trees  showing  out  dimly  against  the 
darkening  sky. 

Next  morning  I  went  up  to  the  mine — and  down  it 
Having  costumed  myself  in  garments  that  made  getting 
dirty  a  perfect  luxury,  I  was  taken  to  the  shaft.  Now, 
I  had  expected  to  see  an  unfathomably  black  hole  in  the 
ground  with  a  rope  dangling  down  it,  but  instead  of  that 
I  found  myself  in  a  spacious  boarded  shed,  with  a  huge 
wheel  standing  at  one  end  and  a  couple  of  iron  uprights 
with  a  cross-bar  standing  up  from  the  floor  at  the  other. 
Round  the  wheel  was  coiled  an  enormous  length  of  a  six- 
inch  steel-wire  band,  and  the  disengaged  end  of  the  band, 
after  passing  over  a  beam,  was  fastened  to  the  cross-bar 
above  mentioned.  On  the  bridge  of  the  wheel  stood  an 
engineer,  the  arbiter  of  fates,  who  is  perpetually  unwinding 
victims  down  from  stage  to  stage  of  the  Inferno,  and 
winding  up  the  redeemed  from  limbo  to  limbo.  Having 
propitiated  him  by  an  affectation  of  intelligence  as  to  the 
machinery  which  he  controlled,  we  took  our  places  under 
the  cross-bar,  between  the  stanchions,  and  suddenly  the 


252  Sinners  and  Saints. 

floor— as  innocent-looking  and  upright-minded  a  bit  of 
boarded  floor  as  you  could  wish  to  stand  on — gave  way 
beneath  us,  and  down  we  shot  apud  inferos,  like  the  devils 
in  "Der  Freischiitz."  We  had  our  lamps  in  our 'hands, 
and  they  gave  just  light  enough  for  me  to  see  the  dripping 
wooden  walls  of  the  shaft  flashing  past,  and  then  I  felt 
myself  becoming  lighter  and  lighter — a  mere  butterfly — 
imponderable.  But  it  doesn't  take  many  seconds  to  fall 
down  800  feet,  and  long  before  I  had  expected  it  I  found 
we  were  "  at  the  bottom." 

Our  explorations  then  began ;  and  veiy  queer  it  all  was, 
with  the  perpetual  gushing  of  springs  from  the  rock,  and 
the  bubble  and  splash  of  the  waters  as  they  ran  along  on 
either  side  the  narrow  tunnels;  the  meetings  at  corners 
with  little  cars  being  pushed  along  by  men  who  looked, 
as  they  bent  low  to  their  work,  like  those  load-rolling 
beetles  that  Egypt  abounds  in ;  the  machinery  for  pump- 
ing, so  massive  that  it  seemed  much  more  likely  that  it 
was  found  where  it  stood,  the  vestiges  of  a  long-past  sub- 
terranean civilization,  than  that  it  had  been  brought  down 
there  by  the  men  of  these  degenerate  days;  the  sudden 
endings  of  the  tunnels  which  the  miners  were  driving  along 
the  vein,  with  a  man  at  each  ending,  his  back  bent  to 
fit  into  the  curve  which  he  had  made  in  the  rock,  and 
reminding  one  of  the  frogs  that  science  tells  us  are  found 
at  times  fitted  into  holes  in  the  middle  of  stones;  the 
climbing  up  hen-roost  ladders  from  tunnel  to  tunnel,  from 
one  darkness  into  another ;  the  waiting  at  different  spots 
till  "  that  charge  had  been  blasted,"  and  the  dull,  deadened 
roar  of  the  explosion  had  died  away:  the  watching  the 
solitary  miners  at  their  work  picking  and  thumping  at  the 
discoloured  strips  of  dark  rock  that  looked  to  the  uninitiated 
only  like  water-stained,  mildewy  accidents  in  the  "general 


The  Ontario  Mine.  253 

structure,  but  which,  in  reality,  was  silver,  and  yielding,  it 
might  be,  $1600  to  the  ton  ! 

"  This  is  all  very  rich  ore,"  said  my  guide,  kicking  a  heap 
that  I  "was  standing  on.  I  got  off  it  at  once,  reverentially. 

But  reverence  for  the  Mother  of  the  Dollar  gradually 
dies  out,  for  everything  about  you,  above  you,  beneath  you, 
is  silver  or  silverish— dreadful  rubbish  to  look  at,  it  is  true, 
but  with  the  spirit  of  the  great  metal  in  it  all  none  the 
less ;  that  fairy  Argentine  who  builds  palaces  for  men,  and 
gives  them,  if  they  choose,  all  the  pleasures  of  the  world, 
and  the  leisure  wherein  to  enjoy  them.  And  there  they 
stood,  these  latter-day  Cyclops,  working  away  like  the 
gnomes  of  the  Hartz  Mountains,  or  the  entombed  artificers 
of  the  Bear-Kings  of  Dardistan,  with  their  lanterns  glowing 
at  the  end  of  their  tunnels  like  the  Kanthi  gem  which 
Shesh,  the  fabled  snake-god,  has  provided  for  his  gloomy 
empire  of  mines  under  the  Nagas'  hills.  Useless  crystals 
glittered  on  every  side,  as  if  they  were  jewels,  and  the 
water  dripping  down  the  sides  glistened  as  if  it  was  silver, 
but  the  pretty  hypocrisy  was  of  no  avail.  For  though  the 
ore  itself  was  dingy  and  ugly  and  uninviting,  the  ruthless 
pick  pursued  it  deeper  and  deeper  into  its  retreat,  and 
only  struck  the  harder  the  darker  and  uglier  it  got.  It 
reminded  me,  watching  the  miner  at  his  work,  of  the  fairy 
story  where  the  prince  in  disguise  has  to  kill  the  lady  of 
his  love  in  order  to  release  her  from  the  enchantments 
which  have  transformed  her,  and  how  the  wicked  witch 
makes  her  take  shape  after  shape  to  escape  the  resolute 
blows  of  the  desperate  lover.  But  at  last  his  work  is 
accomplished,  and  the  ugly  thing  stands  before  him  in  all 
the  radiant  beauty  of  her  true  nature. 

And  it  is  a  long  process,  and  a  costly  one,  before  the 
lumps  of  heavy  dirt  which  the  miner  pecks  out  of  the 


254  Sinners  and  Saints. 

inside  of  a  hill  are  transformed  into  those  hundredweight 
blocks  of  silver  bullion  which  the  train  from  Park  City 
carries  every  morning  of  the  year  into  Salt  Lake  City. 
From  first  to  last  it  is  pretty  much  as  follows.  Remember 
I  am  not  writing  for  those  who  live  inside  mines ;  very 
much  on  the  contrary.  I  am  writing  for  those  who  have 
never  been  down  a  mine  in  their  lives,  but  who  may  care 
to  read  an  unscientific  description  of  "  mining,"  and  the 
Ontario  mine  in  particular. 

In  1872  a  couple  of  men  made  •  a  hole  in  the  ground, 
and  finding  silver  ore  in  it  offered  the  hole  for  sale  at 
$30,000.  A  clever  man,  R.  C.  Chambers  by  name,  hap- 
pened to  come  along,  and  liking  the  look  of  the  hole, 
joined  a  friend  in  the  purchase  of  it.  The  original  diggers 
thus  pocketed  $30,000  for  a  few  days'  work,  and  no 
doubt  thought  they  had  done  a  good  thing.  But  alas  ! 
that  hole  in  the  ground  which  they  were  so  glad  to  get 
rid  of  ten  years  ago  now  yields  every  day  a  larger  sum  in 
dollars  than  they  sold  it  for  !  The  new  owners  of  the  hole, 
which  was  christened  "  The  Ontario  Mine,"  were  soon  at 
work,  but  instead  of  following  them  through  the  different 
stages  of  development,  it  is  enough  to  describe  what  that 
hole  looks  like  and  produces  to-day. 

A  shaft,  then,  has  been  sunk  plumb  down  into  the  moun- 
tain for  900  feet,  and  from  this  shaft,  at  every  100  feet  as 
you  go  down,  you  find  a  horizontal  tunnel  running  off  to 
right  and  left.  If  you  stop  in  your  descent  at  any  one  of 
these  "stages"  and  walk  through  the  tunnel — water  rushing 
all  the  way  over  your  feet,  and  the  vaulted  rock  dripping  over- 
head— you  will  find  that  a  line  of  rails  has  been  laid  down 
along  it,  and  that  the  sides  and  roofs  are  strongly  supported 
by  timbers  of  great  thickness.  These  timbers  are  necessary 
to  prevent,  in  the  first  place,  the  rock  above  from  crushing 


The  Ontario  Mine.  255 

down  through  the  roof  of  the  tunnel,  and,  in  the  next, 
from  squeezing  in  its  sides,  for  the  rock  every  now  and 
then  swells  and  the  sides  of  the  tunnels  bulge  in.  The 
rails  are,  of  course,  for  the  cars  which  the  miners  fill  with 
ore,  and  push  from  the  end  of  the  tunnel  to  the  "  stage."  A 
man  there  signals  by  a  bell  which  communicates  with  the 
engineer  at  the  big  wheel  in  the  shed  I  have  already  spoken 
of,  and  there  being  a  regular  code  of  signals,  the  engineer 
knows  at  once  at  which  stage  the  car  is  waiting,  and  how 
far  therefore  he  is  to  let  the  cage  down.  Up  goes  the  car 
with  its  load  of  ore  into  the  daylight, — and  then  its  troubles 
begin. 

But  meanwhile  let  us  stay  a  few  minutes  more  in  the 
mine.  Walking  along  any  one  of  the  main  horizontal 
tunnels,  we  come  at  intervals  to  a  ladder,  and  going  up 
one  of  them  we  find  that  a  stope,  or  smaller  gallery,  is 
being  run  parallel  with  the  tunnel  in  which  we  are  walking, 
and  of  course  (as  it  follows  the  same  direction  of  the  ore), 
immediately  over  that  tunnel,  so  that  the  roof  of  the  tunnel 
is  the  floor  of  the  stope.  The  stopes  are  just  wide  enough 
for  a  man  to  work  in  easily,  and  are  as  high  as  he  can 
reach  easily  with  his  pickaxe,  about  seven  feet.  If  you 
walk  along  one  of  these  stopes  you  come  to  another  ladder, 
and  find  it  leads  to  another  stope  above,  and  going  up 
this  you  find  just  the  same  again,  until  you  become  aware 
that  the  whole  mountain  above  you  is  pierced  throughout 
the  length  of  the  ore  vein  by  a  series  of  seven-foot  galleries 
lying  exactly  parallel  one  above  the  other,  and  separated 
only  by  a  sufficient  thickness  of  pine  timber  to  make  a 
solid  floor  for  each.  But  at  every  hundred  feet,  as  I  have 
said,  there  comes  a  main  tunnel,  down  to  which  all  the 
produce  of  the  minor  galleries  above  it  is  shot  down  by 
"  shoots,"  loaded  into  cars  and  pushed  along  to  the  "  stage." 


256  Sinners  and  Saints. 

But  silver  ore  is  not  the  only  thing  that  the  Company  gets 
out  of  its  mine,  for  unfortunately  the  mountain  in  which 
the  Ontario  is  located  is  full  of  springs,  and  the  miner's 
pick  is  perpetually,  therefore,  letting  the  water  break  into 
the  tunnels,  and  in  such  volume,  too,  that  I  am  informed 
it  costs  as  much  to  rid  the  works  of  the  water  as  to  get 
out  the  silver  !  Streams  gurgle  along  all  the  tunnels,  and 
here  and  there  ponderous  bulkhead^  have  been  put  up  to 
keep  the  water  and  the  loosened  rock  from  falling  in. 
Pumps  of  tremendous  power  are  at  work  at  several  levels 
throwing  the  water  up  towards  the  surface — one  of  these 
at  the  8oo-foot  level  throwing  1500  gallons  a  minute  up  to 
the  5oo-foot  level. 

Following  a  car-load  of  ore,  we  find  it,  having  reached  the 
surface,  being  loaded  into  waggons,  in  which  it  is  carried 
down  the  hill  to  the  mills,  weighed,  and  then  shot  down 
into  a  gigantic  bin — in  which,  by  the  way,  the  Company 
always  keeps  a  reserve  of  ore  sufficient  to  keep  the  mills  in 
full  work  for  two  years.  From  this  hour,  life  becomes  a 
burden  to  the  ore,  for  it  is  hustled  about  from  machine  to 
machine  without  the  least  regard  to  its  feelings.  No  sooner 
is  it  out  of  the  waggon  than  a  brutal  crusher  begins  smash- 
ing it  up  into  small  fragments,  the  result  of  this  meanness 
being  that  the  ore  is  able  to  tumble  through  a  screen  into 
cars  that  are  waiting  for  it  down  below.  These  rush  up- 
stairs with  it  again  and  pour  it  into  "  hoppers,"  which,  being 
in  the  conspiracy  too,  begin  at  once  to  spill  it  into  gigantic 
drying  cylinders  that  are  perpetually  revolving  over  a  terrific 
furnace  fire,  and  the  ore,  now  dust,  comes  streaming  out  as 
dry  as  dry  can  be,  is  caught  in  cars  and  wheeled  off  to  bat- 
teries where  forty  stampers,  stamping  like  one,  pound  and 
smash  it  as  if  they  took  a  positive  delight  in  it.  There  is 
an  intelligent,  deliberate  determination  about  this  fearful 


The  Ontario  Mine.  257 

stamping  which  makes  one  feel  almost  afraid  of  the 
machinery.  Some  pieces,  however,  actually  manage  to 
escape  sufficient  mashing  up  and  slip  away  with  the  rest 
down  into  a  "  screw  conveyor,"  but  the  poor  wretches  are 
soon  found  out,  for  the  fiendish  screw  conveyor  empties 
itself  on  to  a  screen,  through  which  all  the  pulverized  ore 
goes  shivering  down,  but  the  guilty  lumps  still  remaining  are 
carried  back  by  another  ruthlesss  machine  to  those  detest- 
able stamps  again.  They  cannot  dodge  them.  For  these 
machines  are  all  in  the  plot  together.  Or  rather,  they  are 
the  honest  workmen  of  good  masters,  and  they  are  deter- 
mined that  the  work  shall  be  thoroughly  done,  and  that  not 
a  single  lump  of  ore  shall  be  allowed  to  skulk.  So  without 
any  one  to  look  after  them  these  cylinders  and  stampers, 
hoppers  and  dryers,  elevators  and  screens  go  on  with  their 
work  all  day,  all  night,  relentless  in  their  duty  and  pitiless 
to  the  ore.  Let  a  lump  dodge  them  as  it  may,  it  gets  no 
good  by  it,  for  the  one  hands  it  over  to  the  other,  just  as 
constables  hand  over  a  thief  they  have  caught,  and  it  goes 
its  rounds,  again  and  again,  till  the  end  eventually  overtakes 
it,  and  it  falls  through  the  screen  in  a  fine  dust. 

For  its  sins  it  is  now  called  "  pulp,"  and  starts  off  on  a 
second  tour  of  suffering — for  these  Inquisitors  of  iron  and 
steel,  these  blind,  brutal  Cyclops-machines,  have  only  just 
begun,  as  it  were,  their  fun  with  their  victim.  Its  tortures 
are  now  to  be  of  a  more  searching  and  refined  description. 
As  it  falls  through  the  screen,  another  screw-conveyor 
catches  sight  of  it  and  hurries  it  along  a  revolving  tube  into 
which  salt  is  being  perpetually  fed  from  a  bin  overhead — 
this  salt,  allow  me  to  say  for  the  benefit  of  those  as  ignorant 
as  myself,  is  "  necessary  as  a  chloridizer  " — and  thus  mixed 
up  with  the  stranger,  falls  into  the  power  of  a  hydraulic 
elevator,  which  carries  it  up  forty  feet  to  the  top  of  a  roast- 


258  Sinners  and  Saints. 

ing  furnace  and  deliberately  spills  the  mixture  into  it ! 
Looking  into  the  solid  flame,  I  appreciated  for  the  first 
time  in  my  life  the  courage  of  Shadrach,  Meshack  and 
Abednego. 

The  mixture  which  fell  in  at  the  top  bluish-grey  comes 
out  at  the  bottom  yellowish-brown — I  only  wonder  at  its 
coming  out  all — and  is  raked  into  heaps  that  have  a  wicked, 
lurid  colour  and  give  out  such  fierce  short  flames  of  brilliant 
tints,  and  such  fierce,  short  blasts  of  a  poisonous  gas,  that 
I  could  not  help  thinking  of  the  place  where  bad  men  go 
to,  and  wondering  if  a  Dante  could  not  get  a  hint  or  two  for 
improving  his  Inferno  by  a  visit  to  the  Ontario  roasting- 
furnace.  The  men  who  stir  these  heaps  use  rakes  with  pro- 
digious handles,  and  wear  wet  sponges  over  their  mouths 
and  noses,  and  as  I  watched  them  I  remembered  the  poet's 
devils  who  keep  on  prodding  up  the  damned  and  raking 
them  about  over  the  flames. 

But  the  ore  submits  without  any  howling  or  gnashing  of 
teeth,  and  is  dragged  off  dumb,  and  soused  into  great  churns, 
kept  at  a  boiling  heat,  in  which  quicksilver  is  already  lying 
waiting,  and  the  ore  and  the  quicksilver  are  then  churned 
up  together  by  revolving  wheels  inside  the  pans,  till  the 
contents  look  like  huge  caldrons  of  bubbling  chocolate. 
After  some  hours  they  are  drained  off  into  settlers  and  cold 
water  is  let  in  upon  the  mess,  and  lo  !  silver  as  bright  as  the 
quicksilver  with  which  it  is  mixed  comes  dripping  out 
through  the  spout  at  the  bottom  into  canvas  bags. 

Much  of  the  quicksilver  drips  through  the  canvas  back 
into  the  pans,  and  the  residue,  silver  mixed  with  quick- 
silver, makes  a  cold,  heavy,  white  paste  called  "  amalgam," 
which  is  carried  off  in  jars  to  the  retorts.  Into  these  it  is 
thrown,  and  while  lying  there  the  quicksilver  goes  on  drip- 
ping away  from  the  silver,  and  after  a  time  the  fires  are 


The  Ontario  Mine.  259 

lighted  and  the  retort  is  sealed  up.  The  intense  heat  that 
is  obtained  volatilizes  the  quicksilver;  but  this  mercurial 
vapour  is  caught  as  it  is  escaping  at  the  top  of  the  retort, 
again  condensed  into  its  solid  form,  and  again  used  to  mix 
with  fresh  silver  ore.  Its  old  companion,  the  silver,  goes 
on  melting  inside  the  retort  all  the  time,  till  at  last  when 
the  fires  are  allowed  to  cool  down,  it  is  found  in  irregular 
lumps  of  a  pink-looking  substance.  These  lumps  are  then 
taken  to  the  crucibles,  and  passing  from  them,  molten  and 
refined,  fall  into  moulds,  each  holding  about  a  hundred- 
weight of  bullion. 

And  all  this  bother  and  fuss,  reader,  to  obtain  these 
eight  or  ten  blocks  of  metal ! 

True,  but  then  that  metal  is  silver,  and  with  one  single 
day's  produce  from  the  Ontario  Mine  in  the  bank  to  his 
credit  a  man  might  live  at  his  leisure  in  London,  like  a 
nobleman  in  Paris,  or  like  a  prince  among  the  princes  of 
Eulenspiegel-Wolfenbuttel-Gutfiirnichts. 


260  Sinners  and  Saints. 


CHAPTER  XXL 

FROM    UTAH    INTO    NEVADA. 

Rich  and  ugly  Nevada— Leaving  Utah— The  gift  of  the  Alfalfa- 
Through  a  lovely  country  to  Ogden — The  great  food-devouring 
trick— From  Mormon  to  Gentile  :  a  sudden  contrast — The  son 
of  a  cinder -Is  the  red  man  of  no  use  at  all  ?— The  papoose's 
papoose — Children  all  of  one  family. 

IT  is  a  far  cry  from  the  City  of  the  Saints  to  the  city  of  the 
Celestials,  for  Nevada  stretches  all  its  hideous  length  be- 
tween them,  and  thus  keeps  apart  the  two  American  pro- 
blems of  the  day — pigtails  and  polygamy.  But  mere  length 
in  miles  is  not  all  that  goes  to  make  a  journey  seem  long, 
for  dreariness  of  landscape  stretches  every  yard  to  six  feet, 
and  turns  honest  miles  into  rascally  versts,  or  elongates  them 
into  the  still  more  infamous  "kos  "  of  the  East,  the  so-called 
mile,  which  seems  to  lengthen  out  at  the  other  end  as  you 
travel  along  it,  and  about  nightfall  to  lose  the  other  end  alto- 
gether. And  Nevada  is  certainly  dreary  enough  for  any- 
thing. It  is  abominably  rich,  I  know.  There  is  probably 
more  filthy  lucre  in  it  per  acre  (in  a  crude  state,  of  course) 
than  in  any  other  state  in  the  Union,  and  more  dollars 
piled  up  in  those  ghastly  mountains  than  in  any  other  range 
in  America.  But,  as  a  fellow-passenger  remarked,  "  There's 
a  pile  of  land  in  Nevada  that  don't  amount  to  much,"  and  it 
is  just  this  part  of  Nevada  that  the  traveller  by  railway  sees. 
"  That  hill  over  there  is  full  of  silver,"  said  a  stranger  to 
me,  by  way  of  propitiating  my  opinion. 


Rich  and  ugly  Nevada.  261 

"  Is  it  ?"  I  said,  "  the  brute."  I  really  couldn't  help  it.  I 
had  no  ill-feeling  towards  the  hill,  and  if  it  had  asked 
a  favour  of  me,  I  believe  I  should  have  granted  it  as 
readily  as  any  one.  But  its  repulsive  appearance  was 
against  it,  and  the  idea  of  its  being  full  of  silver  stirred  my 
indignation.  I  grudged  so  ugly  a  cloud  its  silver  lining, 
and  like  the  sailor  in  the  Summer  Palace  at  Pekin  felt 
moved  to  insult  it.  The  sailor  I  refer  to  was  in  one  of  the 
courts  of  the  palace  looking  about  for  plunder.  It  did  not 
occur  to  his  weather-beaten,  nautical  intelligence  that  every- 
thing about  him  was  moulded  in  solid  silver.  He  thought 
it  was  lead.  A  huge  dragon  stood  in  the  corner  of  the 
room,  and  the  atrocity  of  its  expression  exasperated  Jack  so 
acutely  that  he  smote  it  with  his  cutlass,  and  lo  !  out  of  the 
monster's  wound  poured  an  ichor  of  silver  coinage. 

"  Who'd  have  thought  it !  "  said  Jack,  "  the  ugly  devil/  " 

Nevada,  moreover,  lies  under  the  disadvantage  of  having 
on  one  side  of  it  the  finest  portion  of  California,  on  the  other 
the  finest  portion  of  Utah,  and  sandwiched  between  two 
such  Beauties,  such  a  Beast  naturally  looks  its  worst.  For 
the  northern  angle  of  Utah  is  by  far  the  most  fertile  part  of 
the  territory,  possessing,  in  patches,  some  incomparable 
meadows,  and  corn-lands  of  wondrous  fertility.  As  compared 
with  the  prodigious  agricultural  and  pastoral  wealth  of  such 
states  as  Missouri,  Illinois,  or  Ohio,  the  Cache  Valleys  and 
Bear  Valleys  of  Utah  seem  of  course  insignificant  enough ; 
but  at  present  I  am  comparing  them  only  with  the  rest  of 
poor  Utah,  and  with  ugly,  wealthy  Nevada. 

Starting  from  Salt  Lake  City  northwards,  the  road  lies 
through  suburbs  of  orchards  and  gardens,  many  of  them 
smothered  in  red  and  yellow  roses,  out  on  to  the  levels  of 
the  Great  Valley.  Here,  beyond  the  magic  circle  of  the 
Water-wizard,  there  are  patches  of  fen-lands  still  delightful 


262  Sinners  and  Saints. 

to  wild-fowl,  and  patches  of  alkali  blistering  in  the  sun,  but 
all  about  them  stretch  wide  meadows  of  good  grazing-ground, 
where  the  cattle,  good  Devon  breed  many  of  them,  and 
here  and  there  a  Jersey,  loiter  about,  and  bright  fields  of 
lucerne,  or  alfalfa,  just  purpling  into  blossom  and  haunted 
by  whole  nations  of  bees  and  tribes  of  yellow  butterflies. 
What  a  gift  this  lucerne  has  been  to  Utah  !  Indeed,  as  the 
Mormons  say,  the  territory  could  hardly  have  held  its  own 
had  it  not  been  for  this  wonderful  plant.  Once  get  it  well 
started  (and  it  will  grow  apparently  anywhere)  the  "alfalfa" 
strikes  its  roots  ten,  fifteen,  twenty  feet  into  the  ground,  and 
defies  the  elements.  More  than  this,  it  becomes  aggressive, 
and,  like  the  white  races,  begins  to  encroach  upon,  dominate' 
over,  and  finally  extinguish  the  barbarian  weeds,  its  wild 
neighbours. 

Scientific  experiments  with  other  plants  have  taught 
us  that  vegetables  wage  war  with  each  other,  under  principles 
and  with  tactics,  curiously  similar  to  those  of  human  com- 
munities. 

When  a  strong  plant  advancing  its  frontiers  comes  upon 
a  nation  of  feeble  folk,  it  simply  falls  upon  it  pell-mell, 
relying  upon  mere  brute  strength  to  crush  opposition.  But 
when  two  plants,  equally  hardy,  come  in  contact,  and  the 
necessity  for  more  expansion  compels  them  to  fight,  they  bring 
into  action  all  the  science  and  skill  of  old  gladiators  and  Ger- 
man war- professors.  They  push  out  skirmishers,  and  draw 
them  in,  throw  out  flanking  parties,  plant  outposts,  race  for 
commanding  points,  manoeuvre  each  other  out  of  corners,  cut 
off  each  others'  communications  with  the  water,  sap  and  mine 
— in  fact  go  through  all  the  artifices  of  civilized  war.  If  they 
find  themselves  well-matched,  they  eventually  make  an  alli- 
ance, and  mingle  peacefully  with  each  other,  dividing  the 
richer  spots  equally,  and  going  halves  in  the  water.  But  as  a 


Fighting  Plants.  263 

rule  one  gives  way  to  the  other,  accepts  its  dominion,  and 
gradually  accepts  a  subordinate  place  or  even  extirpation. 

Now  this  lucerne  is  one  of  the  fightingest  plants  that 
grows.  It  is  the  Norwegian  rat  among  the  vegetables,  the 
Napoleon  of  the  weeds.  Nothing  stops  it.  If  it  comes 
upon  a  would-be  rival,  it  either  punches  its  head  and  walks 
over  it,  or  it  sits  down  to  besiege  it,  drives  its  own 
roots  under  the  enemy,  and  compels  it  to  capitulate  by 
starvation.  Fences  and  such  devices  cannot  of  course  keep 
it  within  bounds,  so  the  lucerne  overflows  its  limits  at  every 
point,  comes  down  the  railway  bank,  sprouts  up  in  tufts  on 
the  track,  and  getting  across  into  the  Scythian  barbarism  of 
the  opposite  hill-side,  advances  as  with  a  Macedonian 
phalanx  to  conquest  and  universal  monarchy.  Three  times 
a  year  can  the  farmer  crop  it,  and  there  is  no  fodder  in 
the  world  that  beats  it.  No  wonder  then  that  Utah  en- 
courages this  admirable  adventurer.  In  time  it  will  become 
the  Lucerne  State. 

And  so,  passing  through  fields  of  lucerne,  we  reach  the 
Hot  Springs.  From  a  cleft  in  a  rock  comes  gushing  out  an 
ample  stream  of  nearly  boiling  water  as  clear  as  diamonds, 
and  so  heavily  charged  with  mineral  that  the  sulphuretted 
air,  combined  with  the  heat,  is  sometimes  intolerable,  while 
the  ground  over  which  the  water  pours  becomes  in  a  few 
weeks  thickly  carpeted  with  a  lovely  weed-like  growth  of 
purest  malachite  green.  Passing  across  the  road,  from  its 
first  pool  under  the  rock,  the  stream  spreads  itself  out  into 
the  Hot  Springs  Lake,  where  the  water  soon  assimilates  in 
temperature  to  the  atmosphere,  but  possesses,  for  some 
reason  known  to  the  birds,  a  peculiar  attraction  for  wild- 
fowl, which  congregate  in  great  numbers  about  it.  Where 
it  issues  from  the  rock  no  vegetable  of  course  can  grow  in 
it,  and  there  is  a  rim  all  round  its  edge  about,  a  foot  in 


264  Sinners  and  Saints. 

width  where  the  grass  and  weeds  lie  brown  and  dead, 
suffocated  by  the  fumes.  The  fungoid-like  growth  at  the 
bottom  of  the  pool  exactly  resembles  a  vegetable,  but  is 
as  purely  mineral,  though  sub-aqueous,  as  the  stalactites  on 
a  cave-roof. 

And  so,  on  again  through  a  wilderness  of  lucerne,  with 
a  broad  riband  of  carnation-coloured  phlox  retreating  before 
its  advancing  borders — past  a  perpetual  succession  of  cot- 
tages coming  at  intervals  to  a  head  in  delightful  farming 
hamlets  of  the  true  Mormon  type— past  innumerable 
orchards,  and  here  and  there  intervals  of  wild  vegetation, 
willows,  and  cotton-wood,  with  beds  of  blue  iris,  and  brakes 
of  wild  pink  roses  (such  a  confusion  of  beauty  !)  among 
which  the  birds  and  butterflies  seem  to  hold  perpetual 
holiday. 

Then  Salt  Lake  comes  in  sight,  lying  along  under 
the  mountains  on  the  left,  and  on  the  right  the  Wasatch 
range  closes  in,  with  the  upper  slopes  all  misty  with  grey 
clouds  of  sage-brush,  and  the  lower  vivid  with  lusty  lucerne. 
Each  settlement  is  in  turn  a  delightful  repetition  of  its 
predecessor,  meadow  and  orchard  and  corn-land  alternating, 
with  the  same  pleasant  features  of  wild  life,  flocks  of  crimson- 
winged  or  yellow-throated  birds  wheeling  round  the  willow 
copses,  or  skimming  across  the  meadows,  bitterns  tumbling 
out  from  among  the  reeds,  doves  darting  from  tree  to  tree, 
butterflies  of  exquisite  species  fluttering  among  the  beds  of 
flowers,  and  overhead  in  the  sky,  floating  on  observant 
wings,  the  hawk — one  of  those  significant  touches  of  Nature 
that  redeems  a  country-side  from  Arcadian  mawkishness, 
and  throws  into  an  over-sweet  landscape  just  that  dash  of 
sin  and  suffering  that  lemons  it  pleasantly  to  the  taste. 

Round  the  corner  yonder  lies  Ogden,  one  of  the  most 
promising  towns  of  all  the  West,  and  as  we  approach  it  the 


Approaching  Ogden.  265 

great  expanses  of  meadow  stretching  down  to  the  lake  and 
the  wide  alfalfa  levels  give  place  to  a  barren  sage  veldt, 
where  the  sunflower  still  retains  ancestral  dominion,  and  the 
jackass  rabbits  flap  their  ears  at  each  other  undisturbed  by 
agriculture  or  by  grazing  stock.  Nestling  back  into  a  nook 
of  the  hills  which  rise  up  steeply  behind  it,  and  show  plainly 
on  the  front  their  old  water-line  of  "  Lake  Bonneville  "  (of 
which  the  Great  Salt  Lake  is  the  shrunken  miserable  relict), 
lies  a  pretty  settlement,  cosily  muffled  up  in  clover  and  fruit 
trees,  and  then  beyond  it,  across  another  interval  of  primeval 
sage,  comes  into  view  the  white  cupola  of  the  Ogden  court- 
house. 

Ogden  is  the  meeting-point  of  the  northern  and  southern 
Utah  lines  of  rail,  and,  more  important  still,  of  the  Union 
Pacific  and  the  Central  Pacific  also.  As  a  "  junction  town," 
therefore,  it  enjoys  a  position  which  has  already  made  it 
prosperous,  and  which  promises  it  great  wealth  in  the  near 
future.  Nature  too  has  been  very  kind,  for  the  climate  is 
one  of  the  healthiest  (if  statistics  may  be  believed)  in  the 
world ;  and  wood  and  water,  and  a  fertile  soil,  are  all  in 
abundance.  Fortunately  also,  the  Mormons  selected  the 
site  and  laid  it  out  so  that  the  ground-plan  is  spacious,  the 
roadways  are  ample,  the  shade-trees  profuse,  and  the  drainage 
good.  Its  central  school  is,  perhaps,  the  leading  one  in  the 
territory,  while  in  manufactures  and  industry  it  will 
probably  some  day  outstrip  Salt  Lake  City.  For  the  visitor 
who  does  not  care  about  statistics,  Ogden  has  another 
attraction  as  the  centre  of  a  very  beautiful  canon  country, 
and  excursions  can  be  made  in  a  single  day  that  will  give 
him  as  exhaustive  an  idea  of  the  beauties  of  western  hill 
scenery,  as  he  will  ever  obtain  by  far  more  extended  trips. 
The  Ogden  and  Weber  canons  alone  exhaust  such  land- 
scapes, but  if  the  tourist  has  the  time  and  the  will,  he  may 


266  Sinners  and  Saints. 

wander  away  up  into  the  Wasatch  range,  past  Ogden  valley 
and  many  lovely  bits  of  scenery,  towards  Bear  Valley.  But 
for  myself,  having  seen  nearly  all  the  canons  of  Utah  and 
many  of  Colorado,  I  confess  that  the  Weber  and  "Ogden 
would  have  sufficed  for  all  mere  sight-seeing  purposes. 

It  was  in  the  Ogden  refreshment-room,  waiting  for  the 
train  for  San  Francisco,  that  I  saw  a  performance  that 
filled  me  with  astonishment  and  dismay.  It  was  a  man 
eating  his  dinner.  And  let  me  here  remark,  with  al 
possible  courtesy,  that  the  American  on  his  travels  is  the  most 
reprehensible  eater  I  have  ever  seen.  In  the  first  place, 
the  knives  are  purposely  made  blunt — the  back  and  the 
front  of  the  blade  being  often  of  the  same  "  sharpness  " 
— to  enable  him  to  eat  gravy  with  it.  The  result  is  that 
the  fork  (which  ought  to  be  used  simply  to  hold  meat  steady 
on  the  plate  while  being  cut  with  the  knife)  has  to  be  used 
with  great  force  to  wrench  off  fragments  of  food.  The 
object  of  the  two  instruments  is  thus  materially  abused,  for 
he  holds  the  meat  down  with  the  knife  and  tears  it  into 
bits  with  his  fork  !  Now,  reader,  don't  say  no.  For  I 
have  been  carefully  studying  travelling  Americans  at  their 
food  (all  over  the  West  at  any  rate),  and  what  I 
say  is  strictly  correct.  This  abuse  of  knife  and  fork 
then  necessitates  an  extraordinary  amount  of  elbow-room, 
for  in  forcing  apart  a  tough  slice  of  beef  the  elbows 
have  to  stick  out  as  square  as  possible,  and  the  conse. 
quence  -is,  as  the  proprietor  of  a  hotel  told  me,  only  four 
Americans  can  eat  in  a  space  in  which  six  Englishmen  will 
dine  comfortably.  The  latter,  when  feeding,  keep  their 
elbows  to  their  sides ;  the  former  square  them  out  on  the 
line  of  the  shoulders,  and  at  right  angles  to  their  sides. 
Having  thus  got  the  travelling  American  into  position,  watch 
him  consuming  his  food  !  He  has  ordered  a  dozen  "  por- 
tions "  of  as  many  eatables,  and  the  whole  of  his  meal,  after 


The  Food-swallowing  Trick.  267 

the  detestable  fashion  of  the  "  eating-houses  "  at  which  travel- 
lers are  fed,  is  put  before  him  at  once.  To  eat  the  dozen  or 
so  different  things  which  he  has  ordered,  he  has  only  one  knife 
and  fork  and  one  tea-spoon.  Bending  over  the  table,  he 
sticks  his  fork  into  a  pickled  gherkin,  and  while  munching  this 
casts  one  rapid  hawk-like  glance  over  the  spread  viands, 
and  then  proceeds  to  eat.  Mehercule  !  what  a  sight  it  is  ! 
He  dabs  his  knife  into  the  gravy  of  the  steak,  picks  up  with 
his  fork  a  piece  of  bacon,  and  while  the  one  is  going  up  to  his 
mouth,  the  other  is  reaching  out  for  something  else.  He  never 
apparently  chews  his  food,  but  dabs  and  pecks  at  the  dishes 
one  after  the  other  with  a  rapidity  which  (merely  as  a  juggling 
trick)  might  be  performed  in  London  to  crowded  houses 
every  day,  and  with  an  impartiality  that,  considered  as 
" dining"  is  as  savage  as  any  meal  of  Red  Indians  or  of 
Basutos.  Dab,  dab,  peck,  peck,  grunt,  growl,  snort !  The 
spoon  strikes  in  every  now  and  then,  and  a  quick  sucking-up 
noise  announces  the  disappearance  of  a  mouthful  of  huckle- 
berries on  the  top  of  a  bit  of  bacon,  or  a  spoonful  of  cus- 
tard-pie on  the  heels  of  a  radish.  It  is  perfectly  prodigious. 
It  defies  coherent  description.  But  how  on  earth  does  he 
swallow  ?  Every  now  and  then  he  shuts  his  eyes,  and 
strains  his  throat  ;  this,  I  suppose,  is  when  he  swallows, 
for  I  have  seen  children  getting  rid  of  cake  with  the  same 
sort  of  spasm.  Yet  the  rapidity  with  which  he  shovels  in 
his  food  is  a  wonder  to  me,  seeing  that  he  has  not  got  any 
"  pouch  "  like  the  monkey  or  the  pelican.  Does  he  keep 
his  miscellaneous  food  in  a  "  crop '  like  a  pigeon,  or  a 
preliminary  stomach  like  the  cow,  and  "chew  the  cud" 
afterwards  at  his  leisure?  I  confess  I  am  beaten  by  it. 
The  mixture  of  his  food,  if  it  pleases  him,  does  not  annoy 
me,  for  if  a  man  likes  to  eat  mouthfuls  of  huckle-berries, 
bacon,  apple-pie,  pickled  mackerel,  peas,  mutton,  gherkins, 
oysters,  radishes,  tomatoes,  custard,  and  poached  eggs  (this 


268  Sinners  and  Saints. 

is  a  bonfr-fide  meal  copied  from  my  note-book  on  the  spot) 
in  indiscriminate  confusion,  it  has  nothing  to  do  with  me* 
But  what  I  want  to  know  is,  why  the  travelling  American 
does  not  stop  to  chew  his  food ;  or  why,  as  is  invariably  the 
case,  he  will  despatch  in  five  minutes  a  meal  for  which  he 
has  half  an  hour  set  specially  apart?  He  falls  upon  his 
food  as  if  he  were  demented  with  hunger,  as  if  he  were  a 
wild  thing  of  prey  tearing  victims  that  he  hated  into  pieces  ; 
and  when  the  hideous  deed  is  done,  he  rushes  out  from  the 
scene  of  massacre  with  a  handful  of  toothpicks,  and  leans 
idly  against  the  door-post,as  if  time  were  without  limit  or  end ! 
The  whole  thing  is  a  mystery  to  me.  When  I  first  came 
into  the  country  I  used  to  waste  many  precious  moments 
in  gazing  at  "  the  fine  confused  feeding "  of  my  neigh- 
bours at  the  table,  and  waiting  to  see  them  choke.  But  I 
have  given  that  up  now.  I  plod  systematically  and  delibe- 
rately through  my  one  dish,  content  to  find  myself  always 
the  last  at  the  table,  with  a  tumult  of  empty  platters 
scattered  all  about  me.  Nothing  can  choke  the  travelling 
American.  In  the  meantime,  I  wish  that  young  man  of 
Ogden  would  exhibit  his  great  eating  trick  in  London.  It 
beats  Maskelyne  and  Cook  into  fits. 

From  Ogden  northwards  the  road  lies  past  perpetual 
cottage-farms,  separated  only  by  orchards  or  fields,  and 
clustering  at  intervals  into  pleasant  villages,  where  the  people 
are  all  busy  gathering  in  their  lucerne  crops.  The  same 
profusion  of  wild-flowers,  and  exquisite  rose-brakes,  the  same 
abundance  of  bird  and  insect  life  is  conspicuous. 

But  gradually  our  road  bears  away  westward  from  the  hills, 
leaving  cultivation  and  cottages  to  follow  the  line  of  irriga- 
tion along  their  lower  slopes,  and  while  to  our  right  the 
narrow-gauge  line  runs  northward  up  into  the  Cache  Valley, 
the  granary  of  Utah,  we  trend  away  to  the  left.  The  northern 


Valleys  of  Abundance.  269 

end  of  the  Salt  Lake  comes  in  sight,  and  the  track  running 
for  a  while  close  to  its  side  gives  me  a  last  look  at  this 
sheet  of  wonderful  water. 

I  was  sorry  to  see  the  last  of  it,  for  I  was  sorry  to 
leave  Utah  and  the  kind-hearted,  simple,  hard-working 
Mormon  people.  But  the  Lake  gradually  comes  to  a 
point,  dwindles  out  into  a  marsh,  and  is  gone,  and  as 
we  speed  away  across  levels  of  dreary  alkaline  ground,  we 
can  only  recall  its  site  by  the  wild  duck  streaming  across  to 
settle  for  the  night  in  the  reeds  that  grow  by  its  edges. 

Away  from  Mormon  industry,  the  sage-brush  flourishes 
like  green  bay-trees.  To  the  east,  the  line  of  white-walled 
cottages  speaks  of  a  civilization  which  we  are  leaving  be- 
hind us.  To  the  west,  the  dreary  mountains  of  Nevada 
already  herald  a  region  of  barren  desolation.  And  so  the  sun 
begins  to  set,  and  in  the  dim  moth-time,  as  the  mists  begin 
to  blur  the  outlines  of  Antelope  Island  in  the  Salt  Lake, 
the  small  round-faced  owls  come  out  upon  the  railway 
fencing  and  chuckle  to  each  other,  and  crossing  the  Bear 
River,  all  ruddy  with  the  sunset,  we  see  the  night-hawks 
skimming  the  water  in  chase  of  the  creatures'  of  the  twi- 
light. 

And  so  to  Corinne,  ghastly  Corinne,  a  Gentile  failure 
on  the  very  skirts  of  Mormon  success.  It  had  once  a 
great  carrying-trade,  for  being  at  the  terminus  of  the  Utah 
Railway,  Montana  depended  upon  it  for  its  supplies,  and 
bitterly  had  Montana  cause  to  regret  it,  for  the  Corinne 
freight- carriers  (I  wish  I  could  remember  their  expressive 
slang  name)  seemed  to  think  that  railway  enterprise  must 
always  terminate  at  Corinne,  and  so  they  carried  just  what 
they  chose,  at  the  price  they  chose,  and  when  they  chose. 
But  the  railway  ran  past  them  one  fine  day,  and  so  now 
there  is  Corinne,  stranded  high  and  dry,  as  discreditable  a 


2  70  Sinners  and  Saints. 

settlement  as  ever  men  put  together.  Without  any  plan, 
treeless  and  roadless,  the  scattered  hamlet  of  crazy-looking 
shanties  stands  half  the  year  in  drifting  dust  and  half  the 
year  in  sticky  mud,  and  the  Mormons  point  the  finger  of 
scorn  at  the  place  the  Gentiles  used  to  boast  of.  And 
Corinne  seems  to  strike  the  keynote  of  the  succeeding 
country,  for  cultivation  ceases  and  habitations  are  not  on 
the  desolate  plain  we  enter.  And  so  to  Promontory  and 
then  darkness. 

We  awake  to  find  ourselves  still  in  calamitous  Nevada. 
What  heaps  of  British  gold  have  been  sunk  in  those  ugly 
hills  in  the  hope  of  getting  up  American  silver  ! 

But  here  is  Halleck,  a  government  post,  and  soldiers  from 
the  barracks  are  lounging  about  in  uniforms  that  make 
them  look  like  butcher-boys,  and  with  a  drowsy  gait  that 
makes  one  suspect  them  to  be  burthened  with  the  sadden- 
ing load  of  yesterday's  whisky.  Then,  after  an  interval  of 
desert,  we  cross  the  Humboldt  river,  thick  with  the  mud  of 
melting  snows,  and,  snaking  across  a  plain  warted  over 
with  ant-hills,  arrive  at  Elko. 

It  is  possitfle  that  Allah  in  his  mercy  may  forgive  Elko 
the  offal  which  it  put  before  us  for  breakfast.  For  myself, 
mere  humanity  forbids  me  to  forgive  it.  But  Elko  was 
otherwise  of  interest.  A  waiter,  very  black,  and,  in  pro- 
portion to  his  nigritude,  insolent,  had  triumphed  over  my 
unconcealed  disgust  with  my  food.  Yet  I  turned  to  him 
civilly  and  said,  "  Isn't  there  a  warm  spring  here  which  is 
worth  going  to  see  ?  " 

"  No"  said  the  negro,  "  our  spring  been  burned  up  /" 

"  Burned  up  ! "  I  exclaimed  in  astonishment ;  "  the  spring 
been  burned  up  ! " 

"  Yes,"  said  the  abominable  one,  "  burned  up.  Every- 
body know  dat" 


The  Son  of  a  Cinder.  271 

"Was  your  mother  there  ?"  I  asked  courteously,  pretend- 
ing not  to  be  exasperated  by  the  blackamoor. 

"  My  mother  ?     No.     My  mother's—" 

"  Ah  ! "  I  replied,  "  I  thought  she  might  have  been 
burned  up  at  the  same  time,  for  you  look  like  the  son  of  a 
cinder." 

My  sally — mean  effort  that  it  was — was  a  complete 
triumph,  and  I  left  Ham  squashed.  It  proved,  of  course, 
that  it  was  the  wooden  shanty  at  the  spring  that  had  been 
burned  down,  but  in  any  case  it  was  too  far  off  for 
us  to  go  to  see.  So  we  consoled  ourselves  with  the  In- 
dians, who  always  gather  on  the  platform  at  Elko,  in  the 
assurance  of  begging  or  showing  their  papooses  to  some 
purpose.  Nor  were  they  wrong.  I  paid  a  quarter  to  see 
"  the  papoose,"  and  got  more  than  my  money's  worth  in 
hearing  this  poor  brown  woman  talking  to  her  child  the 
same  sweet  nursery  nonsense  that  my  own  wife  talks  to 
mine.  And  the  papoose  understood  it  all,  and  chuckled 
and  smiled  and  looked  happy,  for  all  the  world  as  if  it 
were  something  better  than  a  mere  Indian  baby.  Poor  little 
Lamanite  !  In  a  year  or  two  it  will  be  strutting  about  the 
camp  with  its  mimic  bow  and  arrows,  striking  its'  mother, 
and  sneering  at  her  as  "  a  squaw,"  and  ten  years  later  (if 
the  end  of  the  race  has  not  then  arrived)  may  be  riding 
with  his  tribe  on  some  foul  errand  of  murder,  while  his 
mother  carries  the  lodge-poles  and  the  cooking-pots  on 
foot  behind  the  young  brave's  horse.  Imagine  a  life  in 
which  begging  is  the  chief  dissipation,  and  horse-stealing 
the  only  industry ! 

But  I  can  feel  a  sympathy  for  the  red  man.  It  may 
be  true  that  neither  gunpowder  nor  the  Gospel  can  reform 
him,  that  his  code  of  morality  is  radically  incurable,  that 
he  is,  in  fact,  "  the  red-bellied  varmint "  that  the  Western 


272  Sinners  and  Saints. 

man  believes  him  to  be.  Yet  all  the  same,  remembering 
the  miracles  that  British  government  has  worked  with  the 
Gonds  and  other  seemingly  hopeless  tribes  of  India,  I  en- 
tertain a  lurking  suspicion  that  under  other  and  more  kindly 
circumstances  the  Red  Indian  might  have  been  to-day  a 
better  thing  than  he  is. 

At  any  rate,  a  people  cannot  be  altogether  worthless  that 
in  the  deepest  depths  of  their  degradation  still  maintain  a 
lofty  wild-beast  scorn  of  white  men,  and  think  them  some- 
thing lower  than  themselves.  And  is  not  pride  the  noblest 
and  the  easiest  of  all  fulcrums  for  a  government  to  work 
on? 

Is  it  quite  certain,  for  instance,  that,  given  arms,  and 
drilled  as  soldiers,  detachments  of  the  tribes,  as  auxiliaries 
of  the  regulars,  might  not  do  good  service  at  the  different 
military  posts,  in  routine  duty,  of  course,  and  that  the 
prestige  of  such  employment  would  not  appeal  to  the 
military  spirit  of  the  tribes  at  large?  What  is  there  at 
Fort  Halleck  that  Indians  could  not  do  as  well  as  white 
men?  It  is  a  notorious  fact,  and  as  old  as  American 
history,  that  the  red  man  holds  sacred  everything  that 
his  tribe  is  guarding.  Why  should  not  this  chivalry,  common 
to  every  savage  race  on  earth,  and  largely  utilized  by 
other  governments  in  Asia  and  in  Africa,  be  turned  to 
account  in  America  too,  and  Indians  be  entrusted  with  the 
peace  of  Indian  frontiers  ? 

I  know  well  enough  that  many  will  think  my  suggestion 
sentimental  and  absurd,  but  fortunately  it  is  just  the  class 
who  think  in  that  way  that  have  no  real  importance  in  this 
or  in  any  other  country.  They  are  the  men  who  think  the 
"critturs  "  ought  to  be  "  used  up,"  and  who,  when  they  are  in 
the  West,  "  would  as  soon  shoot  an  Injun  as  a  coyote." 
These  men  form  a  class  of  which  America,  when  she  is 


Are  the  Indians  of  no  Use  ?  273 

three  generations  older,  will  have  little  need  for,  and  who, 
in  a  more  settled  community,  will  find  that  they  must 
either  conform  to  civilization  or  else  "git."  There  are 
a  great  number  of  these  coarse,  thick-skinned,  ignorant 
men  floating  about  on  the  surface  of  Western  America  :  for 
Western  America  still  stands  in  need  of  men  who  will  do 
the  reckless  preliminary  work  of  settlement,  and  shoot  each 
other  off  over  a  whisky  bottle  when  that  work  is  done. 
Now,  these  men,  and  those  of  a  feebler  kind  who  take 
their  opinions  from  them,  believe  and  preach  that  annihila 
tion  of  the  Indian  is  the  only  possible  cure  for  the  Indian 
evil.  I  have  heard  them  say  it  in  public  a  score  of  times 
that  "the  Indian  should  be  wiped  clean  out."  But  a 
larger  and  more  generous  class  is  growing  up  very  fast  in 
the  West,  who  are  beginning  to  see  that  the  red  men  are 
really  a  charge  upon  them  :  and  that  as  a  great  nation  they 
must  take  upon  themselves  the  responsibilities  of  empire, 
and  protect  the  weaker  communities  whom  a  rapidly 
advancing  civilization  is  isolating  in  their  midst. 

But  it  is  a  pity  that  those  in  authority  cannot  see  their  way 
to  giving  practical  efTect  to  such  sentiments,  and  devise  some 
method  for  utilizing  the  Indian.  For  myself,  seeing  what 
has  been  done  in  Asia  and  in  Africa  with  equally  difficult 
tribes,  I  should  be  inclined  to  predict  success  for  an  experi- 
ment in  military  service,  if  the  routine  duties  of  barracks 
and  outpost  duty,  in  unnecessary  places,  can  be  called 
"military  service." 

For  one  thing,  drilled  and  well-armed  Indians  would 
very  soon  put  a  stop  to  cow-boy  disturbances  in  Arizona, 
or  anywhere  else.  Or,  again,  if  Indians  had  been  on  his 
track,  James,  the  terror  of  Missouri,  would  certainly  not 
have  flourished  so  long  as  he  did. 

But  by  this  time  we  have  got  far  past  Elko,  and  the 

T 


274  Sinners  and  Saints. 

train  is  carrying  us  through  an  undulating  desert  of  rabbit- 
bush  and  greasewood,  with  dull,  barren  hills  on  either  hand, 
and  then  we  reach  Carlin,  another  dreadful-looking  hamlet 
of  the  Corinne  type,  and,  alas  !  Gentile  also,  without  a  tree 
or  a  road,  and  nearly  every  shanty  in  it  a  saloon. 

More  Indians  are  on  the  platform.  They  are  allowed,  it 
appears,  under  the  Company's  contract  with  the  government, 
to  ride  free  of  charge  upon  the  trains,  and  so  the  poor 
creatures  spend  their  summer  days,  when  they  are  not  away 
hunting  or  stealing,  in  travelling  backwards  and  forwards 
from  one  station  to  the  next,  and  home  again.  This  does 
not  strike  the  civilized  imagination  as  a  very  exhilarating 
pastime,  nor  one  to  be  contemplated  with  much  enthusiasm 
of  enjoyment.  Yet  the  Indians,  in  their  own  grave  way, 
enjoy  it  prodigiously. 

Curiously  enough,  they  cannot  be  persuaded  to  ride 
anywhere,  except  on  the  platforms  between  the  baggage-cars. 
But  here  they  cluster  as  thick  as  swarming  bees,  the 
"bucks"  in  all  the  fantastic  combination  of  vermilion, 
tag-rag  and  nudity,  the  squaws  dragging  about  ponderous 
bison  robes  and  sheep-skins,  and  laden  with  papooses, 
the  children,  grotesque  little  imitations  of  their  parents, 
with  their  playthings  in  their  hands. 

For  the  "  papoose "  is  a  human  child  after  all,  and 
the  little  Shoshonee  girls  nurse  their  dolls  just  as  little  girls 
in  New  York  do,  only,  of  course,  the  Red  Indian's  child 
carries  on  her  back  an  imitation  papoose  in  an  imita- 
tion pannier,  instead  of  wheeling  an  imitation  American 
baby  in  an  imitation  American  "  baby-carriage."  I  watched 
one  of  these  brown  fragments  of  the  great  sex  that  gives 
the  world  its  wives  and  its  mothers,  its  sweethearts  and 
its  sisters,  and  it  was  quite  a  revelation  to  me  to  hear  the 
wee  thing  crodhing  to  her  wooden  baby,  and  hushing  it 


Early  Cares.  275 


to  sleep,  and  making  believe  to  be  anxious  as  to  its  health 
and  comforts.  Yes,  and  my  mind  went  back  on  a  sudden 
to  the  nursery,  on  the  other  side  of  the  Atlantic,  thousands 
of  miles  away,  where  another  little  girl  sits  crooning  over 
her  doll  of  rags  and  wax,  and  on  her  face  I  saw  just  the 
same  expression  of  troubled  concern  as  clouded  the  little 
Shoshonee's  brow,  a,nd  the  same  affectation  of  motherlycare. 
So  it  takes  something  more  than  mere  geographical 
distance  to  alter  human  nature. 


T  a 


276  Sinners  and  Saints. 


CHAPTER  XXII. 

FROM    NEVADA    INTO    CALIFORNIA. 

Of  Bugbears — Suggestions  as  to  sleeping-cars — A  Bannack  chief,  his 
hat  and  his  retinue — The  oasis  of  Humboldt — Past  Carson  Sink — 
A  reminiscence  of  wolves — "  Hard  places " — First  glimpses  of 
California — A  corn  miracle  —  Bunch-grass  and  Bison  —  From 
Sacramento  to  Benicia. 

Is  a  bugbear  most  bug  or  bear?  I  never  met  one  yet 
fairly  face  to  face,  for  the  bugbear  is  an  evasive  insect.  Nor, 
if  I  dfo/meet  one,  can  I  say  whether  I  should  prefer  to  find 
it  mainly  bug  or  mainly  bear.  The  latter  is  of  various  sorts. 
Thus,  one,  the  little  black  bear  of  the  Indian  hills,  is  about 
as  formidable  as  a  portmanteau  of  the  same  size.  Another, 
the  grizzly  of  the  Rockies,  is  a  very  unamiable  person.  His 
temper  is  as  short  as  his  tail ;  and  he  has  very  little  more 
sense  of  right  and  wrong  than  a  Land-leaguer.  But  he 
is  not  so  mean  as  the  bug.  You  never  hear  of  grizzly 
bears  getting  into  the  woodwork  of  bedsteads  and  creep- 
ing out  in  the  middle  of  the  night  to  sneak  up  the 
inside  of  your  night-shirt.  He  does  not  go  and  cuddle 
himself  up  flat  in  a  crease  of  the  pillow-case,  and  then  slip 
out  edgeways  as  soon  as  it  is  dark,  and  bite  you  in  the  nape 
of  the  neck.  It  is  not  on  record  that  a  bear  ever  got  inside 
a  nightcap  and  waited  till  the  gas  was  turned  out,  to  come 
forth  and  feed  like  grief  on  the  damask  cheek  of  beauty. 
No,  these  are  not  the  habits  of  bears,  they  are  more 


A  few  Words  about  '  *  Sleepers?        277 

manly  than  bugs.  If  you  want  to  catch  a  bear  between 
your  finger  and  thumb,  and  hold  it  over  a  lighted  match  on 
the  point  of  a  pin,  it  will  stand  still  to  let  you  try.  Or  if 
you  want  to  have  a  good  fair  slap  at  a  bear  with  a  slipper, 
it  won't  go  flattening  itself  out  in  the  crevices  of  furniture, 
in  order  to  dodge  the  blow,  but  will  stand  up  square  in  the 
road,  in  broad  daylight,  and  let  you  do  it.  So,  on  the  whole, 
I  cannot  quite  make  up  my  mind  whether  bugs  or  bears  are 
the  worst  things  to  have  about  a  house.  You  see  you  could 
shoot  at  the  bear  out  of  the  window ;  but  it  would  be 
absurd  to  fire  off  rifles  at  bugs  between  the  blankets. 
Besides,  bears  don't  keep  you  awake  all  night  by  leaving 
you  in  doubt  as  to  whether  they  are  creeping  about  the  bed 
or  not,  or  spoil  your  night's  rest  by  making  you  sit  up  and 
grope  about  under  the  bed-clothes  and  try  to  see  things 
in  the  dark.  Altogether,  then,  there  is  a  good  deal  to  be 
said  on  the  side  of  the  bear. 

I  am  led  to  these  remarks  by  remembering  that  at  Carlin, 
in  Nevada,  1  found  two  bugs  in  my  "  berth  "  in  the  sleeping- 
car.  The  porter  thought  I  must  have  "  brought  them  with 
me."  Perhaps  I  did,  but,  as  I  told  him,  I  didn't  remember 
doing  so,  and  with  his  permission  would  not  take  them  any 
further.  Or  perhaps  the  Shoshonees  brought  them.  All 
Indians,  whether  red  or  brown,  are  indifferent  to  these 
insects,  and  carry  them  about  with  them  in  familiar  abun- 
dance. 

And  this  reminds  me  to  say  a  little  about  sleeping-cars 
in  general.  During  my  travels  in  America  I  have  used  three 
kinds,  the  Pullman  Palace,  the  Silver  Palace,  and  the 
Baltimore  and  Ohio,  and  except  in  "  high  tone,"  and  finish 
of  ornament,  where  the  Pullman  certainly  excels  the  rest, 
there  is  very  little  to  choose  between  them.  All  are  ex- 
tremely comfortable  as  sleeping-cars.  In  the  Silver  Palace, 


278  Sinners  and  Saints. 

however,  there  is  a  custom  prevalent  of  not  pulling  down 
the  upper  berth  when  it  is  unoccupied,  and  this  improve- 
ment on  the  Pullman  plan  is  certainly  very  great.  The  two 
shelves,  one  at  each  end  of  the  berth,  are  ample  for  one's 
clothes,  while  the  sense  of  relief  and  better  ventilation  from 
not  having  the  bottom  of  another  bedstead  suspended 
eighteen  inches  or  so  above  your  face  is  decidedly  conducive 
to  better  rest.  The  general  adoption  of  this  practice, 
wherever  possible,  would,  I  am  sure,  be  popular  among 
passengers.  As  day-cars,  the  "  sleepers  "  have  one  or  two 
defects  in  common,  which  might  very  easily  be  remedied. 
For  one  thing,  every  seat  should  have  a  removable  head- 
rest belonging  to  it.  As  it  is,  the  weary  during  the  day 
become  very  weary  indeed,  and  the  attempts  of  passengers 
to  rest  their  heads  by  curling  themselves  up  on  the  seats,  or 
lying  crosswise  in  the  "  section,"  are  as  pathetic  as  they  are 
often  absurd,  and  give  a  Palace  car  the  appearance,  on  a 
hot  afternoon,  of  a  ward  in  some  Hospital  for  Spinal  Com- 
plaints. Another  point  that  should  be  altered  is  the  hour 
for  closing  the  smoking-room.  When  not  required  for 
berths  for  passengers  (for  the  company's  employes  ought 
not  to  be  considered  when  the  convenience  of  the  company's 
customers  is  in  question)  there  is  no  reason  whatever  for 
closing  the  smoking-room  at  ten.  As  a  rule  it  is  not  closed ; 
but  sometimes  it  is  ;  and  it  should  not  be  placed  in  the  power 
of  a  surly  conductor — and  there  are  too  many  ill-mannered 
conductors  on  the  railways  —to  annoy  passengers  by  apply- 
ing such  a  senseless  regulation.  A  third  point  is  the  apple- 
and-newspaper-boy  nuisance.  This  wretched  creature,  if 
of  an  enterprising  kind,  pesters  you  to  purchase  things 
which  you  have  no  intention  of  purchasing,  and  if  you 
express  any  annoyance  at  his  importunity,  he  is  insolent. 
But  apart  from  his  insolence,  he  is  an  unmitigated  nuisance. 
What  should  be  done  is  this  :  a  printed  slip,  such  as  the 


Apple-and-Newspaper-Boy  Nuisance.    279 

boy  himself  carries  and  showing  what  he  sells,  should  be 
put  on  to  the  seats  by  the  porter,  and  when  any  passenger 
wants  an  orange  or  a  book,  he  could  send  for  the  vendor. 
But  the  vendor  should  be  absolutely  forbidden  to  parade 
his  wares  in  the  sleeping-cars,  unless  sent  for.  Anywhere 
else,  except  on  a  train,  he  would  be  handed  over  to  the 
police  for  his  importunities ;  but  on  the  train  he  considers 
himself  justified  in  badgering  the  public,  and  impertinently 
resents  being  ordered  away.  These  are  three  small  matters,  no 
doubt,  but  changes  in  the  direction  I  have  suggested  would 
nevertheless  materially  increase  the  comfort  of  passengers. 

And  now  let  me  see.  When  I  fell  into  these  digres- 
sions I  had  just  said  good-bye  to  the  Mormons  and 
Mormonland,  and  had  got  as  far  into  Nevada  as  Carlin. 
From  there  a  dismal  interval  of  wilderness  brings  the 
traveller  to  Palisade,  a  group  of  wooden  saloons  haunted  by 
numbers  of  yellow  Chinese.  In  the  few  minutes  that  the 
train  stopped  here,  I  saw  a  curious  sight. 

A  number  of  our  Shoshonee  passengers — the  "  deadheads  " 
on  the  platform  between  the  baggage-cars — had  got  off, 
and  one  of  them  was  the  squaw  that  had  the  papoose. 
As  she  sat  down  and  unslung  her  infant  from  her  back,  a 
group  gathered  round  her — one  Englishman,  one  negro,  three 
mulattoes,  and  a  Chinaman.  And  they  were  all  laughing  at 
the  Indian.  Not  one  of  them  all,  not  even  the  negro,  but 
thought  himself  entitled  to  make  fun  of  her  and  her  baby ! 
The  white  man  looks  down  on  the  mulatto,  and  the 
mulatto  on  the  negro,  and  the  negro  and  the  Chinaman 
reciprocate  a  mutual  disdain ;  yet  here  they  were,  all  four 
together,  on  a  common  platform,  loftily  ridiculing  the 
Shoshonee  !  It  was  a  delightful  spectacle  for  the  cynic. 
But  I  am  no  cynic,  and  yet  I  laughed  heartily  at  them  all — 
at  them  all  except  the  Shoshonee. 

I  cannot,  for  the  life  of  me,  help  venerating  these  repre- 


280  Sinners  and  Saints. 

sentatives  of  aprodigious  antiquity,  these  relics  of  a  civiliza- 
tion that  dates  back  before  our  Flood. 

Then  we  reach  the  Humboldt  River,  a  broad  and  full- 
watered  stream,  lazily  winding  along  among  ample  meadows 
But  not  a  trace  of  cultivation  anywhere.    And  then  on  to  the 
desert  again  with  the  surface  of  the  alkali  land  curling  up 
into  flakes,  and  the  lank  grey  greasewood  sparsely  scattered 
about  it.    The  desolation  is  as  utter  as  in  Beluchistan  or  the 
Land  of  Goshen,  and  instead  of  Murrees  there  are  plenty  of 
Shoshonees  to  make  the  desolation  perilous  to  travellers  by 
waggon.     At  Battle  Creek  station  they  are  mustered  in  quite 
a  crowd,  listless  men  with  faces  like  masks  and   women 
burnished  and   painted  and  wooden  as  the  figure-heads  of 
English  barges.     I  do  not  think  that  in  all  my  travels,  in  Asia 
or  in  Africa,  or  in  the  islands  of  eastern  or  southern  seas,  I 
have  ever  met  a   race  with  such  a  baffling  physiognomy. 
You  can  no  more  tell  from  his  face  what  an  Indian  is  think- 
ing of  than  you  can  from  a  monkey's.     Their  eyes  brighten 
and  then  glaze  over  again  without  a  word  being  spoken  or  a 
muscle  of  the  face  moved,  and  they  avert  their  glance  as 
soon  as  you  look  at  them.     If  you  look  into  an  Indian's 
eyes,  they  seem  to  deaden,  and  all  expression  dies  out  of 
them ;  but  the  moment  you  begin  to  turn  your  head  away, 
you  are  conscious  of  the  rapid  furtive  glance  that  they  dart 
at  you.     They  are   hieroglyphics  altogether,  and  there  is 
something  "  uncanny  "  about  them. 

At  Battle  Creek  we  note  that  (with  irrigation)  trees  will 
grow,  but  in  a  few  minutes  we  are  out  again  on  the  wretched 
desert,  the  eternal  greasewood  being  the  only  apology 
for  vegetation,  and  little  prairie  owls  the  only  representatives 
of  wild  life.  And  so  to  Winnemucca,  where,  being  watered, 
a  few  trees  are  growing ;  but  the  desolation  is  nevertheless 
so  complete  that  I  could  not  help  thinking  of  the  difference 


A  Bannack  Chief.  281 


a  little  Mormon  industry  would  make  !  A  company  of 
Bannack  Indians  were  waiting  here  for  the  train,  and  such 
a  wonderful  collection  as  they  were  !  One  of  them  was  the 
chief  who  not  long  ago  gave  the  Federal  troops  a  good  deal 
of  trouble,  and  his  retinue  was  the  most  delightful  medley 
of  curiosities — a  long  thin  man  with  the  figure  of  a  lamp- 
post, a  short  fat  one  with  the  expression  of  a  pancake,  a 
half-breed  with  a  beard,  and  a  boy  with  a  squint.  The  chief, 
with  a  face  about  an  acre  in  width,  wore  a  stove-pipe  hat 
with  the  crown  knocked  out  and  the  opening  stuffed  full  of 
feathers,  but  the  rest  of  his  wonderful  costume,  all  flapping 
about  him  in  ends  and  fringes  of  all  colours  and  very  dirty, 
is  indescribable.  His  suite  were  in  a  more  sober  garb,  but  all 
were  grotesque,  their  headgear  being  especially  novel,  and 
showing  the  utmost  scorn  of  the  hatter's  original  inten- 
tions. Some  wore  their  hats  upside  down  and  strapped 
round  the  chin  with  a  ribbon ;  others  inside  out,  with  a 
fringe  of  their  own  added  on  behind — but  it  was  enough  to 
make  any  hatter  mad  to  look  at  them. 

They  travelled  with  us  across  the  next  interval  of  howling 
wilderness,  and  got  out  to  promenade  at  Humboldt,  where 
we  got  out  to  dine — and,  as  it  proved,  to  dine  well. 

Humboldt  is  an  exquisite  oasis  in  the  hideous  Nevada 
waste.  A  fountain  plays  before  the  hotel  door,  and  on 
either  side  are  planted  groves  of  trees,  poplar  and  locust 
and  willow,  with  the  turf  growing  green  beneath  them,  and 
roses  scattered  about. 

No  wonder  that  all  the  birds  and  butterflies  of  the  neigh- 
bourhood collect  at  such  a  beautiful  spot,  or  that  travellers 
go  away  grateful,  not  only  for  the  material  benefits  of  a  good 
meal,  but  the  pleasures  of  green  trees  and  running  water 
and  the  song  of  birds.  An  orchard,  with  lucerne  strong 
and  thick  beneath  them,  promises  a  continuance  of  culti- 


282  Sinners  and  Saints. 

vation,  but  on  a  sudden  it  stops,  and  we  find  ourselves  out 
again  on  the  alkali  plain,  as  barren  and  blistered  as  the 
banks  of  the  Suez  Canal.  A  tedious  hour  or  two  brings  us 
to  the  river  again ;  but  man  here  is  not  agricultural,  so  the 
deseit  continues  in  spite  of  abundant  water.  And  so  to 
Lovelocks,  where  girls  board  the  train  as  if  they  were 
brigands,  urging  us  to  buy  "  sweet  fresh  milk — five  cents  a 
glass."  Indians,  as  usual,  are  lounging  about  on  the  plat- 
form, and  some  more  of  them  get  on  to  the  train,  and  away 
we  go  again  into  the  same  Sahara  as  before.  Humboldt 
Lake,  the  "  sink  "  where  the  river  disappears  from  the  sur- 
face of  the  earth,  and  a  distant  glimpse  of  Carson's  "  Sink," 
hardly  relieve  the  desperate  monotony,  for  they  are  hideous 
levels  of  water  without  a  vestige  of  vegetation,  and  close 
upon  them  comes  as  honest  a  tract  of  desert  as  even  Africa 
can  show,  and  with  no  more  "  features  "  on  it  than  a  plate 
of  cold  porridge  has.  A  wolf  goes  limping  off  in  a  three- 
legged  kind  of  way,  as  much  as  to  say  that,  having  to  live  in 
such  a  place,  it  didn't  much  care  whether  we  caught  it  or  not ; 
and  what  a  contrast  to  the  pair  of  wolves  I  remember  meet- 
ing one  morning  in  Afghanistan  ! 

I  was  riding  a  camel  and  looking  away  to  my  right  across 
the  plain.  I  saw  coming  towards  me,  over  the  brushwood, 
in  a  series  of  magnificent  leaps,  a  couple  of  immense  wolves. 
I  knew  that  wolves  grew  sometimes  to  a  great  size,  but  I  had 
no  idea  that,  even  with  their  winter  fur  on,  they  could  be 
so  large  as  these  were. 

And  there  was  a  majesty  about  their  advance  that  fas- 
cinated me,  for  every  bound,  though  it  carried  them  twelve 
or  fifteen  feet,  was  so  free  and  light  that  they  seemed  to 
move  by  machinery  rather  than  by  prodigious  strength  of 
muscle.  But  it  suddenly  occurred  to  me  that  they  were 
crossing  my  path,  and  I  saw,  moreover,  that  our  relative 


Wolves.  283 


speeds,  if  maintained,  might  probably  bring  us  into  actual 
collision  at  the  point  of  intersection.  But  it  was  not  for  me 
to  yield  the  road,  and  the  wolves  thought  it  was  not  for  them. 
And  so  we  approached,  the  wolves  keeping  exact  time  and 
leaping  together,  as  if  trained  to  do  it,  and  then,  with- 
out swerving  a  hair's-breadth  from  their  original  course 
they  bounded  across  the  path  only  a  few  feet  behind  my 
camel.  It  was  superb  courage  on  their  part,  and  as  an 
episode  of  wild-beast  life,  one  of  the  most  picturesque  and 
dramatic  I  ever  witnessed. 

The  next  station  we  halted  at  was  Wadsworth,  a  "  hard 
place,"  so  men  say,  where  revolvers  are  in  frequent  use  and 
Lynch  is  judge.  Here  the  broad-faced  Bannack  chief  got 
down,  and,  followed  by  his  tag-rag  retinue,  disappeared  into 
the  cluster  of  wigwams  which  we  saw  pitched  behind  the 
station.  I  noticed  a  man  standing  here  with  a  splendid 
cactus  in  his  hand,  covered  with  large  magenta  blossoms, 
and  this  reminded  me  to  note  the  conspicuous  change  in 
the  botany  that  about  here  takes  place.  The  flowers  that 
had  borne  us  company  all  through  Utah  and  now 
and  then  brightened  the  roadside  in  Nevada  had  disap- 
peared, and  were  replaced  by  others  of  species  nearly  all 
new  to  me.  I  saw  here  for  the  first  time  a  golden- 
flowered  cactus  and  a  tall  lavender-coloured  spiraea  of 
singular  beauty.  A  little  beyond  Wadsworth  the  change 
becomes  even  more  marked,  for  striking  the  Truckee  river, 
we  exchange  desolation  for  pretty  landscape,  and  the  desert 
for  green  bottom  lands.  The  alteration  was  a  welcome  one, 
and  some  of  the  glimpses,  even  if  we  had  not  passed  through 
such  a  melancholy  region,  would  have  claimed  our  admira- 
tion on  their  own  merits.  The  full-fed  river  poured  along 
a  rapid  stream,  through  low-lying  meadow-lands  fringed  with 
tall  cotton-wood,  the  valley  sometimes  narrowing  so  much 


284  Sinners  and  Saints. 

that  the  river  took  up  all  the  room,  and  then  widening  out 
so  as  to  admit  of  large  expanses  of  grass  and  occasional 
fields  of  corn.  And  so  to  Greeno,  where  we  supped 
heartily  off  "  Truckee  trout,"  one  of  the  best  fish  that  ever 
wagged  a  fin.  As  we  got  back  into  the  cars  it  was  getting 
dark,  for  with  the  usual  luck  of  travel  the  Central  Pacific 
has  to  run  its  trains  so  as  to  give  passengers  ugly  Nevada 
by  day  and  beautiful  California  by  night. 

Awaking  next  morning  was  a  wonderful  surprise.  We 
had  gone  to  sleep  in  Nevada  in  early  summer,  and  we  awoke 
in  California  late  in  autumn  !  In  Utah,  two  days  ago,  the 
crops  had  only  just  begun  to  flush  the  ground  with  green. 
Here,  to-day,  the  corn-fields  were  the  -sun-dried  stubble  of 
crops  that  had  been  cut  weeks  ago  ! 

And  the  first  glimpses  of  it  were  fortunate  ones,  for  when 
I  awoke  it  was  in  a  fine  park-like,  undulating  country, 
studded  with  clumps  of  oak-trees,  but  one  continuous  corn- 
field. Great  mounds  of  straw  and  stacks  of  corn  dotted 
the  landscape  as  far  as  the  eye  could  see,  and  already  the 
fields  were  alive  with  carts  and  men  all  busy  with  the  splendid 
harvest.  After  a  while  came  vast  expanses  of  meadow, 
prettily  timbered,  in  which  great  flocks  of  sheep  and  herds 
of  cattle  were  grazing,  "  ranches  "  such  as  I  had  never  seen 
before.  And  then  we  passed  some  houses,  broad-eaved  and 
verandahed,  with  capacious  barns  standing  in  echelon  be- 
hind, and  all  the  signs  of  an  ample  prosperity,  deep  shaded 
in  walnut-trees  laden  with  nuts,  overrun  by  vines  already 
heavy  with  clusters,  and  brightened  by  clumps  of  oleanders 
ruddy  with  blossom.  And  then  came  the  corn-fields  again, 
an  unbroken  expanse  of  stubble,  yellow  as  the  sea-sand,  and 
seemingly  as  interminable.  What  a  country !  It  is  a 
kingdom  in  itself. 

And  its  rivers  !    The  American  River  soon  came  in  sight, 


An  ill-mannered  Conductor.  285 

rolling  its  stately  flood  along  between  brakes  of  willow  and 
elder,  and  aspen,  and  then  the  Sacramento,  a  noble  stream. 
And  the  two  conspire  and  join  together  to  take  liberties 
with  the  solid  earth,  swamp  it  into  bulrush  beds  by  the 
league  together,  and  create  such  jungles  as  almost  rival 
the  great  Himalaya  Terai.  And  so  to  Sacramento. 

Sacramento  was  en  fete,  for  it  was  the  race  week.  So 
bunting  was  flapping  from  every  conspicuous  point,  and 
everything  and  everybody  wore  a  whole  holiday,  morning- 
cocktail,  go-as-you-please  sort  of  look.  This  fact  may 
account  for  the  very  ill-mannered  conductor  who  boarded 
us  here. 

I  am  sitting  in  the  smoking-car.  Enter  conductor  with 
his  mouth  too  full  of  tobacco  to  be  able  to  speak.  He  points 
at  me  with  his  thumb.  I  take  no  notice  of  his  thumb.  He 
spits  in  the  spittoon  at  my  feet  and  jerks  his  thumb  to- 
wards me  again.  I  disregard  his  thumb.  "Ticket!"  he  growls. 
I  give  him  my  ticket.  He  punches  it  and  thrusts  it  back 
to  me  so  carelessly  and  suddenly  that  it  falls  on  the  floor. 
He  takes  no  notice,  but  passes  on  into  the  car.  I  take  out 
my  pocket-book  and  make  a  note : — 

"  Such  a  man  as  this  goes  some  way  towards  discrediting 
the  administration  of  a  whole  line.  It  seems  a  pity  there- 
fore to  retain  his  services." 

However,  of  Sacramento,  I  was  very  sorry  not  to  be  able 
to  stay  there,  for  next  to  the  Los  Angeles  country  I  had 
been  told  that  it  was  one  of  the  finest  "locations"  in  all 
California,  and  I  can  readily  believe  it,  for  the  botany 
of  the  place  is  sub-tropical,  and  snow  and  sunstroke  are 
equally  unknown.  Fruits  of  all  kinds  grow  there  in  delight- 
ful abundance,  and  I  cherish  it  therefore  as  a  personal 
grudge  against  Sacramento  that  there  was  not  even  a  black- 
berry procurable  at  breakfast. 


286  Sinners  and  Saints. 

Passing  from  Sacramento,  and  remarking  as  we  go,  the 
patronage  which  that  vegetable  impostor,  the  eucalyptus 
globulus  (or  "  blue-gum  "  of  Australia)  has  secured,  both  as 
an  ornamental — save  the  mark  ! — and  a  shade-tree,  two  pur- 
poses for  which  by  itself  the  eucalyptus  is  specially  unfitted, 
we  find  ourselves  once  more  in  a  world  given  up  to  har- 
vesting. A  monotonous  panorama  of  stubble  and  standing 
crops,  with  clumps  of  pretty  oak  timber  studding  the  undu- 
lating land,  leads  us  to  the  diversified  approaches  to  San 
Francisco. 

It  is  old  travellers'  ground,  but  replete  with  the  interest 
which  attaches  to  variety  of  scenery,  continual  indications 
of  vast  wealth,  and  a  rapidly  growing  prosperity.  But 
one  word,  before  we  reach  the  town,  for  that  wonderful 
natural  crop — the  "  wild  oats,"  which  clothe  every  vacant 
acre  of  the  country  on  this  Pacific  watershed  with  har- 
vests as  close  and  as  regular  as  if  the  land  had  been  tilled, 
and  the  ground  sown,  by  human  agency.  This  surprising 
plant  is  said  to  have  been  brought  to  California  by  the 
Spaniards,  and  to  have  run  wild  from  the  original  fields. 
But  whatever  its  origin,  it  is  now  growing  in  such  vast 
prairies  that  whole  tribes  of  Indians  used  to  look  to  it 
as  the  staple  of  their  food.  But  better  crops  are  fast 
displacing  it,  and  as  for  the  Indian,  California  no  longer 
belongs  to  him  or  his  bison-herds.  Further  east,  that 
is  to  say,  from  the  Platte  Valley  to  the  Sierra  Nevada, 
the  "  bunch  grass  "  was  the  great  natural  provision  for  the 
wild  herds  of  the  wild  man,  and  it  still  ranks  as  one  of  the 
most  valuable  features  of  otherwise  barren  regions  in  Colo- 
rado, Utah,  and  Nevada.  To  the  student  of  Nature,  how- 
ever, it  is  far  more  interesting  as  one  of  the  most  beautiful 
examples  of  her  kindly  foresight,  for  the  bunch  grass  grows 
where  nothing  else  can  find  nourishment,  and  just  when  all 


Features  of  Travel.  287 

other  grasses  are  useless  as  fodder,  it  throws  out  young 
juicy  shoots,  thrives  under  the  snow,  and  then  in  May,  when 
other  grasses  are  abundant,  it  dies  !  Somebody  has  said  that 
without  the  mule  and  the  pig  America  would  never  have 
been  colonized.  That  may  be  as  it  may  be.  But  the  real 
pioneer  of  the  West  was  the  bison,  for  the  first  emigrants 
followed  exactly  in  the  footsteps  of  the  retiring  herds,  and 
these  in  their  turn  grazed  their  way  towards  the  Pacific  in 
the  line  of  the  bunch  grass. 

Mount  Diavolo  is  the  first  "feature"  that  arouses  the 
traveller's  inquisitiveness,  and  then  the  Martines  Straits  with 
their  yellow  waters  spread  out  at  the  feet  of  rolling,  yellow 
hills,  and  then  great  mud  flats  on  which  big  vessels  lie 
waiting  for  the  tide  to  come  and  float  them  on,  and  then  a 
bay  which,  with  its  girdle  of  hills  and  its  broad  margin, 
reminds  me  of  Durban  in  Natal.  So  to  Benicia,  the  place 
of  "the  Boy,"  with  the  blacksmith's  forge  where  Heenan 
used  to  work  still  standing  near  the  water's  edge,  and 
where  the  hammer  that  the  giant  used  to  use  is  still  pre- 
served "  in  memoriam,"  and  then  on  to  the  ferry-boat  (train 
and  all !)  and  across  a  bay  of  brown  water  and  brown  mud 
and  brown  hills — dismally  remindful  of  Weston-super-Mare 
— and  on  to  dry  land  again,  past  Berkley,  with  its  college 
among  the  trees,  Oakland,  and  other  suburban  resorts  of  the 
San  Franciscan,  to  the  fine  new  three-storeyed  Station  at  the 
pier.  Once  more  on  to  the  ferry-boat,  but  this  time  leaving 
our  train  behind  us  and  across  another  bay,  and  so  into 
San  Francisco.  Outside  the  station  stands  a  crowd  of 
chariot-like  omnibuses,  as  gorgeously  coloured,  some  of 
them,  as  the  equipages  of  a  circus,  and  empanelled  with 
gaudy  pictures.  In  one  of  them  we  find  our  proper  seats, 
and  are  soon  bumping  over  the  cobble-stones  into  "the 
most  wonderful  city,  sir,  of  America." 


288  Sinners  and  Saints. 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 

San  Franciscans,  their  fruits  and  their  falsehoods — Their  neglect  of 
opportunities — A  plague  of  flies — The  pig-tail  problem — China- 
men less  black  than  they  are  painted — The  seal  rocks — The  loss 
of  the  Eurydice — A  jeweller's  fairyland — The  mystery  of  gems. 

SOMEBODY  has  poked  fun  at  San  Francisco,  by  calling  it 
"  the  Venice  of  the  West,"  and  then  qualifying  the  compli- 
ment by  explaining  that  the  only  resemblance  between  the 
two  cities  is  in  the  volume  and  variety  of  the  disagreeable 
smells  that  prevail  in  them.  But  the  San  Franciscans  take 
no  notice  of  this  explanation.  They  accept  the  comparison 
in  its  broadest  sense,  and  positively  expect  you  to  see  a 
resemblance  between  their  very  wonderful,  but  very  new 
town,  and  Venice !  Indeed,  there  is  no  limit  to  the  San 
Franciscan's  expectations  from  a  stranger. 

Now,  I  was  sitting  in  the  hotel  one  day  and  overheard  a 
couple  of  San  Franciscans  bragging  in  an  off-hand  way  to 
a  poor  wretch  who  had  been  brought  up,  I  should  guess, 
in  New  Mexico,  and  calmly  assuring  him  that  there  was 
no  place  "in  the  world"  of  greater  beauty  than  San 
Francisco,  or  of  more  delicious  fruit.  I  pretended  to  fall 
into  the  same  easy  credulity  myself,  and  drew  them  on  to 
making  such  monstrous  assertions  as  that  San  Francisco 
was  a  revelation  of  beauty  to  all  travellers,  and  the  perfec- 


Fruits  &nd  Falsehoods.  289 

tion  of  its  fruit  a  never-ceasing  delight  to  them  !  I  then 
ventured  deferentially  to  inquire  what  standard  of  compari- 
son they  had  for  their  self-laudation,  what  other  countries 
they  had  visited,  and  what  fruits  theyconsidered  California 
produced  in  such  perfection.  Now,  it  turned  out  that  these 
three  impostors  had  never  been  out  of  America :  in  fact, 
that,  except  for  short  visits  on  business  to  the  Eastern 
States,  they  had  never  been  out  of  California  and  Nevada  ! 
I  then  assured  them  that,  for  myself,  I  had  seen,  in' 
America  alone,  many  places  far  more  beautiful,  while  "  in 
the  world  "  I  knew  of  a  hundred  with  which  San  Francisco 
should  not  venture  to  compare  itself.  As  for  its  fruits,  there 
was  not  in  its  market,  nor  in  its  best  shops,  a  single  thing 
that  deserved  to  be  called  first-class.  From  the  watery 
cherries  to  the  woolly  apricots,  every  fruit  was  as  flavour- 
less as  it  dared  to  be,  while,  as  a  whole,  they  were  so 
second-rate  that  they  could  not  have  found  a  sale  in  the  best 
shops  of  either  Paris  or  London.  The  finest  fruit,  to  my  mind, 
was  a  small  but  well-flavoured  mango,  imported  from  Mexico. 
Its  flavour  was  almost  equal  to  that  of  the  langra  of  the 
Benares  district,  or  the  green  mango  of  Burmah;  and  if  the 
Maldah  was  grafted  on  to  this  Mexican  stock,  the  result 
would  probably  be  a  fruit  that  would  be  as  highly  prized 
in  New  York  and  in  England,  as  it  is  all  over  Asia.  But 
very  few  people  in  San  Francisco  ever  buy  mangoes.  "  No, 
sir,"  I  said  at  last  to  the  barbarian  who  had  been  im- 
posed upon ;  "  don't  you  believe  any  one  who  tells  you 
that  San  Francisco  is  the  most  lovely  spot  on  earth, 
or  that  its  fruits  are  extraordinary  in  flavour.  San  Fran- 
cisco is  a  wonderful  city;  it  is  the  Wonder  of  the  West. 
But  you  must  not  believe  all  that  San  Franciscans  tell 
you  about  it." 

It  is  a  great  pity  that  San  Franciscans  should  have  this 


2  go  Sinners  and  Saints. 

weakness.  They  have  plenty  to  be  proud  of,  for  their  city 
is  a  marvel.  But  it  has  as  yet  all  the  disadvantages  of 
newness.  Its  population,  moreover,  is  as  disagreeably  un- 
settled as  in  the  towns  of  the  Levant.  All  the  mud  and 
dirt  are  still  in  suspension.  I  know  very  well,  of  course, 
that  improvement  is  making  immense  and  rapid  strides, 
but  to  the  visitor  the  act  of  transitioji  is,  of  course,  invisible, 
and  he  only  sees  the  place  at  a  period  of  apparent  repose 
'between  the  last  point  of  advance  and  the  next.  He  can 
imagine  anything  he  pleases — and  it  is  difficult  to  imagine  the 
full  splendour  of  the  future  of  the  Californian  capital.  But 
this  is  not  what  he  actually  sees.  For  myself,  then,  I  found 
San  Francisco  as  so  many  other  travellers  have  described  it, 
disorderly,  breathless  with  haste,  unkempt.  Here  and  there, 
where  trees  have  been  planted,  and  there  is  the  grace  of 
flowers  and  creeping  plants,  the  houses  look  as  if  rational 
people  might  really  live  in  them.  But  for  the  vast  majority 
of  the  buildings,  they  seem  merely  places  to  lodge  in,  dak- 
bungalows  or  rest-houses,  perches  for  passing  swallows,  any- 
thing you  like— except  houses  to  pass  one's  life  in.  They  are 
not  merely  wooden,  but  they  are  sham  too,  with  their  im- 
posing "  fronts  "  nailed  on  to  the  roofs  to  make  them  look 
finer,  just  as  vulgar  women  paste  curly  "  bangs  "  on  to  the 
fronts  of  their  heads.  There  is  also  an  inexcusable  dearth 
of  ornament.  I  say  inexcusable,  because  San  Francisco 
might  be  a  perfect  paradise  of  flowers  and  trees.  Even  the 
"  weeds  "  growing  on  the  sand  dunes  outside  the  city  are 
flowers  that  are  prized  in  European  gardens.  But  as  it  is, 
Francois  Jeannot, — "French  gardener,  with  general  enter- 
prise of  gardens,"  as  his  signboard  states, — has  evidently 
very  little  to  do.  There  is  little  "  enterprise  of  gardens." 
Yet  what  exquisite  flowers  there  are !  The  crimson 
salvia  grows  in  strong  hedges,  and  plots  are  fenced  in 


Neglect  of  ^Opportunities.  2  9 1 

with  geraniums.  The  fuchsias  are  sturdy  shrubs  in  which 
birds  might  build  their  nests,  and  the  roses  and  jessamines 
and  purple  clematis  of  strange,  large-blossomed  kinds,  form 
natural  arbours  of  enchanting  beauty.  Lobelias  spread  out 
into  large  cushions  of  a  royal  blue,  and  the  canna,  wherever 
sown,  sends  up  shafts  of  vivid  scarlet,  orange,  and  yellow. 

If  I  only  knew  the  names  of  other  plants  I  could  fill 
a  page  with  descriptions  of  the  wonderful  luxuriance  of 
San  Franciscan  flowers.  But  all  I  could  say  would  only 
emphasize  the  more  clearly  the  apparent  neglect  by  the 
San  Franciscans  of  the  floral  opportunities  they  possess. 

It  is  curious  how  enthusiastic  California  has  been  in  its 
reception  of  the  eucalyptus  globulus,  the  blue-gum  tree 
of  Australia.  And  \  am  afraid  there  has  been  some 
job  put  upon  the  San  Franciscans  in  this  matter.  Has 
anybody,  with  a  little  speculation  in  blue-gums  on  hand, 
been  telling  them  that  the  eucalyptus  was  a  wonderful 
drainer  of  marshes  and  conqueror  of  fevers  ?  If  so,  it  is 
a  pity  they  had  not  heard  that  that  hoax  was  quite  played 
out  in  Europe,  and  the  eucalyptus  shown  to  be  an  im- 
postor. Or  were  they  told  of  its  stately  proportions,  its 
rapid  growth,  its  beautiful  foliage,  and  its  splendid  shade  ? 
If  so,  that  hoax  will  soon  expose  itself.  Given  a  site  where 
no  wind  blows,  the  eucalyptus  will  grow  straight,  but  offered 
the  smallest  provocation  it  flops  off  to  one  side  or  the 
other,  while  its  foliage  is  liable  probably  beyond  that  of  all 
other  trees  to  discoloration  and  raggedness.  In  Natal  it 
has  proved  itself  very  useful  as  fencing,  for  neither  wood 
nor  stone  being  procurable,  slips  and  shreds  of  eucalyptus 
have  soon  grown  up  into  permanent  hedges.  But  no 
one  thinks  of  valuing  it  anywhere,  except  in  Australia, 
either  for  its  timber,  its  appearance,  or  its  medicinal  virtues.' 

In  many  ways  the  Queen  of  the  Pacific  was  a  surprise  j 

U    2 


292  Sinners  dnd  Saints. 

I  had  expected  to  find  it  "semi-tropical."  It  is  nothing 
of  the  kind.  Women  were  wearing  furs  every  afternoon 
(in  June)  because  of  the  chill  wind  that  springs  up  about 
three  o'clock,  and  men  walked  about  with  great-coats  over 
their  arms  ready  for  use.  The  architecture  of  the  city  is 
not  so  "semi-tropical"  as  that  of  suburban  New  York, 
while  vegetation,  instead  of  being  rampant,  is  conspicuously 
absent.  Three  women  out  of  every  four  wore  very  thick 
veils,  but  why  they  were  so  thick  I  could  not  discover.  In 
hot  countries  they  do  not  wear  them,  nor  in  "  semi-tropical." 
Perhaps  they  were  vestiges  of  some  recent  visitation  of 
dust,  which  appears  to  be  sometimes  as  prodigious  here  as 
it  is  in  Pietermaritzburg.  But  they  might,  very  properly, 
have  been  an  armour  against  the  flfes  which  swarmed  in 
some  parts  of  the  town  in  hideous  multitudes.  I  went  into 
a  large  restaurant,  the  "  Palace  "  something  it  was  called, 
with  the  intention  of  eating,  but  I  left  without  doing  so,  ap- 
palled by  the  plague  of  flies.  I  found  Beelzebub  very  power- 
ful in  Washington,  and  at  some  of  "  the  eating  places  "  in 
the  South  his  hosts  were  intolerable;  but  San  Francisco 
has  streets  as  completely  given  over  to  the  fly-fiend  as  an 
Alexandrian  bazaar. 

Before  I  went  to  San  Francisco,  I  had  an  idea  that  a 
"Chinese  question"  was  agitating  the  State  of  California, 
that  every  white  man  was  excited  about  the  expulsion  of 
the  heathen,  that  it  was  the  topic  of  the  day,  and  that  pas- 
sion ran  high  between  the  rival  populations.  I  very  soon 
found  that  I  had  been  mistaken,  and  that  there  is  really 
no  "  Chinese  question "  at  all  in  California.  At  least, 
the  one  question  now  is,  how  to  evade  the  late  bill  stop- 
ping Chinese  immigration ;  and  it  was  gleefully  pointed  out 
to  me  that  though  the  importation  of  Celestials  by  sea  was 
prohibited,  there  was  no  provision  to  prevent  them  being 


The  Chinese  Question.  293 

brought  into  the  State   by  land;  and  that   the    numbers 
of  the  arrivals  would  not  probably  diminish  in  the  least ! 

I  had  intended  to  "  study  "  the  Chinese  question.  But 
there  is  not  much  study  to  be  done  over  a  ghost.  Besides, 
every  Californian  manufacturer  is  agreed  on  the  main 
points,  that  Chinese  labour  is  absolutely  necessary,  that 
there  is  not  enough  of  it  yet  in  the  State,  that  more 
still  must  be  obtained.  And  where  a  "problem"  is  granted 
on  all  hands,  it  is  hardly  worth  while  affecting  to  search  for 
profound  social,  political,  or  economical  complication  in  it. 
There  is  not  much  more  mystery  about  it  than  about  the 
nose  on  a  man's  face. 

Of  course  those  who  organized  the  clamour  have  what 
they  call  "  arguments,"  but  they  are  hardly  such  as  can  com- 
mand respect.  In  the  first  place  they  allege  two  appre- 
hensions as  to  the  future  :  i.  That  the  Chinese,  if  un- 
restricted, will  swamp  the  Americans  in  the  State ;  and  2. 
That  they  will  demoralize  those  Americans.  Now  the  first 
is,  I  take  it,  absurd,  and  if  it  is  not,  then  California  ought 
to  be  ashamed  of  itself.  And  as  for  the  second,  who  can 
have  any  sympathy  with  a  State  that  is  unable  to  enforce  its 
police  regulations,  or  with  a  community  in  which  parents 
say  they  cannot  protect  the  purity  of  their  households  ?  If 
the  Chinaman,  as  a  citizen,  disregards  sanitary  bye-laws, 
why  is  he  not  punished,  as  he  would  be  everywhere  else : 
and  if  as  a  domestic  servant  he  misbehaves,  why  is  he 
not  dispensed  with,  as  he  would  be  everywhere  else  ? 

Besides  these  two  apprehensions  as  to  the  future,  they 
have  three  objections  as  to  the  present.  The  first  is,  that 
the  Chinese  send  their  earnings  out  of  the  country ;  the 
second,  that  they  spend  nothing  in  San  Francisco;  the 
third,  that  they  underwork  white  men.  Now  the  first  is 
foolish,  the  second  and  the  third,  I  believe,  untrue.  As 


294  Sinners  and  Saints. 

to  the  Chinese  carrying  money  out  of  the  country — why 
should  they  not  do  so  ?  Will  any  one  say  seriously  that 
America,  a  bullion-producing  country,  is  injured  by  the 
Chinese  taking  their  money  earnings  out  of  the  States,  in 
exchange  for  that  which  America  cannot  produce,  namely, 
labour?  Is  political  economy  to  go  mad  simply  to  suit  the 
sentiment  of  extra-white  labour  in  California  ? 

As  to  the  Chinese  spending  nothing  in  this  country,  this 
is  hardly  borne  out  by  facts,  and,  in  the  mouths  of  San  Fran- 
ciscans, specially  unfortunate.  For  they  have  not  only 
raised  their  prices  upon  the  Chinese,  but  have  actually  for- 
bidden them  to  spend  their  money  in  those  directions  in 
which  they  wished  to  do  so.  As  it  is,  however,  they  spend, 
in  exorbitant  rents,  taxes,  customs-dues,  and  in  direct  ex- 
penditure, a  perfectly  sufficient  share  of  their  earnings,  and 
if  permitted  to  do  so,  would  spend  a  great  deal  more.  A 
ludicrous  superstition,  that  the  Chinese  are  economical,  un- 
derlies many  of  the  misstatements  put  forward  as  "  argu- 
ments "  against  them.  Yet  they  are  not  economical.  On 
the  contrary,  the  Chinese  and  the  Japanese  are  exceptional 
among  Eastern  races  for  their  natural  extravagance. 

It  is  further  alleged  that  they  underwork  white  men. 
This  statement  will  hardly  bear  testing ;  for  the  wages  of 
a  Chinese  workman,  in  the  cigar  trade,  for  instance,  are  not 
lower  than  those  of  a  white  man,  say,  in.  Philadelphia.  They 
do  not,  therefore,  "  underwork  "  the  white  man ;  but  they 
do  undoubtedly  underwork  the  white  Californian,  For  the 
white  Californian  will  not  work  at  Eastern  rates.  On  the 
contrary,  he  wishes  to  know  whether  you  take  him  for  "  a 

fool,"  to  think  that  he,  in  California,  is  going  to 

accept  the  same  wages  that  he  could  have  stopped  in  New 
York  for !  Yet  why  should  he  not  do  so  ?  It  will 
hardly  be  urged  that  the  Californian  Irishman  is  a  superior 


Among  the  Celestials.  295 

individual  to  the  Eastern  American,  or  that  the  average 
San  Franciscan  workman  is  any  better  than  the  men  of  his 
own  class  on  the  Atlantic  coast  ?  Yet  the  Californian  claims 
higher  wages,  and  abuses  the  Chinese  for  working  at  rates 
which  white  men  are  elsewhere  glad  to  accept.  He  says, 
too,  that  living  is  dearer.  Facts  disprove  this.  As  a  matter 
of  fact,  living  is  cheaper  in  San  Francisco  than  in  either 
Chicago  or  New  York. 

How  did  I  spend  my  time  in  San  Francisco  ?  Well, 
friends  were  very  kind  to  me,  and  I  saw  everything  that  a 
visitor  "  ought  to  see."  But  after  my  usual  fashion  I  wan- 
dered about  the  streets  a  good  deal  alone,  and  rode  up  and 
down  in  the  street-cars,  and  I  had  half  a  mind  at  first  to  be 
disappointed  with  the  city  of  which  I  had  heard  so  much. 
But  later  in  the  evening,  when  the  gas  was  alight  and  the 
pavement  had  its  regular  habitues,  and  the  pawnbrokers' 
and  bankrupts'-stock  stores  were  all  lit  up,  I  saw  what  a 
wild,  strange  city  it  was.  Indeed,  I  know  of  no  place  in 
the  world  more  full  of  interesting  incidents  and  stirring 
types  than  this  noisy,  money-spending  San  Francisco. 

One  night,  of  course,  I  spent  several  hours  in  the  Chinese 
quarter,  and  I  cannot  tell  why,  but  I  took  a  great  fancy  to 
the  Celestial,  as  he  is  to  be  seen  in  San  Francisco.  Poli- 
tically, nationally,  and  commercially,  I  hate  Pekin  and  all 
its  works.  But  individually  I  find  the  Chinaman,  all  the 
world  over,  a  quiet-mannered,  cleanly-living,  hard-working 
servant.  And  in  all  parts  of  the  world,  except  California, 
my  estimate  of  Johnnie  is  the  universal  one.  In  Califor- 
nia, however,  so  the  extra-white  people  say,  he  is  a  dangerous, 
dirty,  demoralizing  heathen.  And  there  is  no  doubt  of  it 
that,  in  the  Chinese  quarter  of  the  city,  he  is  crowded  into  a 
space  that  would  be  perilous  to  the  health  of  men  accustomed 
to  space  and  ventilation,  but  I  was  told  by  a  Chinaman  that 


296  Sinners  and  Saints. 

he  and  his  people  had  been  prevented  by  the  city  authorities 
from  expanding  into  more  commodious  lodgings.  As  for 
cleanliness,  I  have  travelled  too  much  to  forget  that  this 
virtue  is  largely  a  question  of  geography,  and  that,  espe- 
cially in  matters  of  food,  the  habits  of  Europeans  are  con- 
sidered by  half  the  world  so  foul  as  to  bring  them  within 
the  contempt  of  a  hemisphere.  As  regards  personal  cleanli- 
ness, the  Chinese  are  rather  scrupulous. 

But  I  wonder  San  Francisco  does  not  build  a  China- 
town, somewhere  in  the  breezy  suburbs,  and  lay  a  tramway  to 
it  for  the  use  of  the  Chinamen,  and  then  insist  upon  its  sani- 
tary regulations  being  properly  observed.  San  Francisco, 
would  be  rather  surprised  at  the  result.  For  the  settlements 
of  the  Chinese  are  very  neat  and  cleanly  in  appearance, 
and  the  people  are  very  fond  of  curious  gardening  and 
house-ornarnentation.  The  Chinese  themselves  would  be 
only,  too  glad  to  get  out  of  the  centre  of  San  Francisco 
and  the  quarters  into  which  they  are  at  present  compelled 
to  crowd,  while  their  new  habitations  would  very  soon  be 
one  of  the  most  attractive  sights  of  all  the  city.  As  it  is,  it 
is  picturesque,  but  it  is  of  necessity  dirty — after  the  fashion 
of  Asiatic  dirtiness.  Smells  that  seem  intolerable  assail  the 
visitor  perpetually,  but  after  all  they  were  better  than  the 
smell  from  an  eating-house  in  Kearney  Street  which  we 
passed  soon  after,  and  where  creatures  of  Jewish  and 
Christian  persuasions  were  having  fish  fried.  I  am  not 
wishing  to  apologize  for  the  Chinese.  I  hate  China  with 
a  generous  Christian  vindictiveness,  and  think  it  a  great 
pity  that  dismemberment  has  not  been  forced  upon  that 
empire  long  ago  as  a  punishment  for  her  massacres  of 
Catholics,  and  her  treason  generally  against  the  commerce 
and  polity  of  Europe.  But  I  cannot  forget  that  California 
owes  much  to  the  Chinese. 


Sea  Lions.  297 


Next  to  the  Chinese,  I  found  the  sea-lions  the  most  inte- 
resting feature  of  San  Francisco.  To  reach  them,  however  (if 
you  do  not  wish  to  indulge  the  aboriginal  hackman  with  an 
opportunity  for  extortion),  you  have  to  undergo  a  long  drive 
in  a  series  of  omnibuses  and  cars,  but  the  journey  through 
the  sand-waste  outskirts  of  the  city  is  thoroughly  instructive, 
for  the  intervals  of  desert  remind  you  of  the  original  con- 
dition of  the  country  on  which  much  of  San  Francisco  has 
been  built,  while  the  intervals  of  charming  villa  residences 
in  oases  of  gardens,  show  what  capital  can  do,  even  with 
only  sea-sand  to  work  upon.  We  call  Ismailia  a  wonder — 
but  what  is  Ismailia  in  comparison  with  San  Francisco  ! 
After  a  while  solid  sand  dunes  supervene,  beautiful,  how- 
ever, in  places  with  masses  of  yellow  lupins,  purple  rocket, 
and  fine  yellow-flowered  thistles,  and  then  the  broad  sea 
comes  into  sight,  and  so  to  the  Cliff  House. 

Just  below  the  House,  one  of  the  most  popular  resorts 
of  San  Francisco,  the  "  Seal  Rocks "  stand  up  out  of 
the  water,  and  it  is  certainly  one  of  the  most  interesting 
glimpses  of  wild  life  that  the  whole  world  affords  to  see  the 
herds  of  "  sea-lions  "  clambering  and  sprawling  about  their 
towers  of  refuge.  For  Government  has  forbidden  their 
being  killed,  so  the  huge  creatures  drag  about  their  bulky 
slug-shaped  bodies  in  confident  security.  It  would  not  be 
very  difficult  I  should  think  for  an  amateur  to  make  a  sea- 
lion.  There  is  very  little  shape  about  them.  But,  never- 
theless, it  is  such  a  treat  as  few  can  have  enjoyed  twice 
in  their  lives  to  see  these  mighty  ones  of  the  deep  basking 
on  the  sunny  rocks,  and  ponderously  sporting  in  the 
water. 

And  looking  out  to  sea,  beyond  the  sea-lions,  I  saw  a 
spar  standing  up  out  of  the  water.  It  was  the  poor  Escam- 
bia  that  had  sunk  there  the  day  before,  and  there,  on  the 


298  Sinners  and  Saints. 

beach  to  the  left  of  the  Cliff  House,  was  the  spot  where  the 
three  survivors  of  the  crew  managed  to  make  good  their 
hold  in  spite  of  the  pitiless  surf,  and  to  clamber  up  out  of 
reach  of  the  waves.     And  all  through  the  night,  with  the 
lights  of  the  Cliff  House  burning  so  near  them,    the  men 
lay  there  exhausted  with  their  struggle.     It  was  a  strange 
wreck  altogether.     When  she  left  port,  every  one  who  saw 
her  careening  over  said  "  she  must  go  down ;"  every  one 
who  passed  her  said  "she  must  go  down;"  the  pilot  left 
her,  saying  "  she  must  go  down ;"   the  crew  came  round  the 
captain,   saying   "she  must  go   down."     But  the  skipper 
held  on  his  way  awhile,   and  at  last  he  too  turned  to  his 
mate  ;  "  she  must  go  down,"  he  said.     Then  he  tried  to  head 
her  to  port  again,  but  a  wave  caught  her  broadside  as  she 
was  clumsily  answering  the  helm ;  and  while  the  coastguard, 
who  had  been  watching  her  through  his  glass,  turned  for 
a  moment  to  telephone    to    the  city   that   "she  must  go 
down," — she  did.     When  he  put  up  the  glasses  to  his  eyes 
again,  there  was  no  Escambia  in  sight !  She  had  gone  down. 
And  the  sight  of  that  lonely  spar,  signalling  so  patheti- 
cally in  the  desolate  waste  of  waves  the  spot  of  the  ship's 
disaster,  brought  back  to  my  mind  a  Sunday  in  Ventnor, 
where  the  people  of  the  town,  looking  out  across  to  sea, 
stood  to  watch  the  beautiful  Eurydice  go   by  in  her   full 
pomp  of  canvas.     A  bright  sun  glorified  her,  and  her  crew, 
met  for  Divine  Service,  were  returning  thanks  to  Heaven 
for  the  prosperous  voyage  they  had  made.     And  suddenly 
over  Dun  nose  there  rushed  up  a  dark  bank  of  cloud.     A 
squall,    driving   a   tempest   of  snow  before  it,  struck  the 
speeding  vessel,  and  in  the  fierce  whirl  of  the  snowdrift  the 
folk  on  shore  lost   sight  of  the  Eurydice  for  some  minutes. 
But  as  swiftly  as  it  had  come,  the  squall  had  passed.     The 
sun  shone   brightly  again,  but  on  a  troubled  sea.     And 


The  <c  Eurydue" — a  Reminiscence.      299 

where  was  the  gallant  ship,  homeward  bound,  and  all  her 
gallant  company?  She  had  gone  down,  all  sail  set,  all 
hands  aboard.  And  the  boats  dashed  out  from  the  shore  to 
the  rescue  !  But  alas  !  only  two  survivors  out  of  the  three 
hundred  and  fifty  souls  that  manned  the  barque  ever  set 
foot  on  shore  again  !  And  the  news  flashed  over  England 
that  the  Eurydice  was  "  lost."  For  days  and  weeks  after- 
wards there  stood  up  out  of  the  water,  half-way  between 
Shanklin  and  Luccombe  Chine,  one  lonely  spar,  like  a 
gravestone,  and  those  who  rowed  over  the  wreck  could  see, 
down  below  them  under  the  clear  green  waves,  the  shimmer 
of  the  white  sails  of  the  sunken  war-boat.  She  was  lying  on 
her  side,  the  fore  and  mizzen  top-gallant  masts  gone,  her 
top-gallant  sails  hanging,  but  with  her  main-mast  in  its  place, 
and  all  the  other  sails  set.  The  squall  had  struck  her  full, 
and  she  rolled  over  at  once,  the  sea  rising  at  one  rush  above 
the  waists  of  the  crew,  and  her  yards  lying  on  the  water. 
Then,  righting  for  an  instant,  she  made  an  effort  to  recover 
herself.  But  the  weight  of  water  that  had  already  poured 
in  between  decks  drove  her  under.  The  sea  then  leaped 
with  another  rush  upon  her,  and  in  an  awful  swirl  of  waves 
the  beautiful  ship,  with  all  her  crew,  went  down.  The 
Channel  tide  closed  over  the  huge  coffin,  and  except  for 
the  two  men  saved,  and  the  corpses  which  floated  ashore, 
there  was  nothing  to  tell  of  the  sudden  tragedy. 

And  then  back  into  the  city  and  amongst  its  shipping.  I 
have  all  the  Britisher's  attraction  towards  the  haunts  of  the 
men  that  "go  down  to  the  sea  in  ships."  Indeed,  walking 
about  among  great  wharves  and  docks,  with  the  shipping  of  all 
nations  loading  and  discharging  cargo,  and  men  of  all  nations 
hard  at  work  about  you,  is  in  itself  a  liberal  education. 

But  it  can  nowhere  be  enjoyed  in  such  perfection  as  in 
London.  There,  emphatically,  is  the  world's  market ;  and 


300  Sinners  and  Saints. 

written  large  upon  the  pavement  of  her  gigantic  docks  is  the 
whole  Romance  of  Trade.  A  single  shed  holds  the  products 
of  all  the  Continents  ;  and  what  a  book  it  would  be  that  told 
us  of  the  strange  industries  of  foreign  lands  !  Who  cut  that 
ebony  and  that  iron- wood  in  the  Malayan  forests  ?  and  how 
came  these  palm-nuts  here  from  the  banks  of  the  Niger? 
Mustard  from  India,  and  coffee-berries  from  Ceylon  lie 
together  to  be  crushed  under  one  boot,  and  here  at  one 
step  you  can  tread  on  the  chili-pods  of  Jamaica  and  the 
pea-nuts  of  America.  That  rat  that  ran  by  was  a  thing 
from  Morocco ;  this  squashed  scorpion,  perhaps,  began  life 
in  Cyprus  or  in  Bermuda.  Queer  little  stowaways  of  insect 
life  are  here  in  abundance,  the  parasites  of  Egyptian  lentils 
or  of  Indian  corn.  The  mosquito  natives  of  Bengal  swamps 
are  brought  here,  it  may  be,  in  teakwood  from  some  drift  on 
the  Burman  coast.  All  the  world's  produce  is  in  convention 
together.  Here  stands  a  great  pyramid  of  horned  skulls,  the 
owners  of  which  once  rampaged  on  Brazilian  pampas,  or 
the  prairies  of  the  Platte  River,  and  hard  by  them  lie  piled 
a  multitude  of  hides  that  might  have  fitted  the  owners  of 
those  skulls,  had  it  not  been  that  they  once  clothed  the 
bodies  of  cattle  that  grazed  out  their  lives  in  Australia. 
Juxtaposition  of  packages  here  means  nothing  It  does  not 
argue  any  previous  affinities.  This  ship  happens  to  be  dis- 
charging Norwegian  pine,  in  which  the  capercailzies  have 
roosted,  and  for  want  of  space  the  logs  are  being  piled  on 
to  sacks  of  ginger  from  the  West  Indies.  Next  them  there 
happens  to-day  to  be  cutch  from  India ;  to-morrow  there 
may  be  gamboge  from  Siam,  or  palm  oil  from  the  Gold 
Coast.  These  men  here  are  trundling  in  great  casks  of 
Spanish  wine  that  have  been  to  the  Orient  for  their  health; 
but  an  hour  ago  they  were  wheeling  away  chests  of  Assam 
tea,  and  in  another  hour  may  be  busy  with  logwood  from 


California? i  Diamonds.  301 

the  Honduras  forests.  One  of  them  is  all  white  on  the 
shoulders  with  sacks  of  American  wheat  flour,  but  his  hands 
are  stained  all  the  same  with  Bengal  turmeric,  and  he  is 
munching  as  he  goes  a  cardamum  from  the  Coromandel 
coast.  What  a  book  it  would  make — this  World's  Work  ! 

And  then  back  through  this  city  of  prodigious  bustle, 
through  fine  streets  with  masses  of  solid  buildings  that  stand 
upon  a  site  which,  a  few  years  ago,  was  barren  sea-sand, 
and  some  of  it,  too,  actually  sea-beach  swept  by  the  waves ! 

The  frequency  of  diamonds  in  the  windows  is  a  point 
certain  to  catch  the  stranger's  eye,  but  his  interest  somewhat 
diminishes  when  he  finds  that  they  are  only  "  California 
diamonds."  They  are  exquisite  stones,  however,  and,  to  my 
thinking,  more  beautiful  than  coloured  gems,  ruby,  sap- 
phire, or  amethyst,  that  are  more  costly  in  price.  But 
the  real  diamond  can,  nevertheless,  be  seen  in  perfection 
in  San  Francisco.  Go  to  Andrews'  "  Diamond  Palace,"  and 
take  a  glimpse  of  a  jeweller's  fairyland.  The  beautiful 
gems  fairly  fill  the  place  with  light,  while  the  owner's  artistic 
originality  has  devised  many  novel  methods  of  showing  off 
his  favourite  gem  to  best  advantage.  The  roof  and  walls, 
for  instance,  are  frescoed  with  female  figures  adorned  on 
neck  and  arm,  finger,  ear,  and  waist,  with  triumphs  of  the 
lapidary's  art. 

There  is  something  very  fascinating  to  the  fancy  in  gems, 
for  the  one  secret  that  Nature  still  jealously  guards  from 
man  is  the  composition  of  those  exquisite  crystals  which  we 
call  "precious  stones,"  We  can  imitate,  and  do  imitate, 
some  of  them  with  astonishing  exactness,  but  after  all  is 
done  there  still  remains  something  lacking  in  the  artificial 
stone.  Wise  men  may  elaborate  a  prosaic  chemistry,  pro- 
ducing crystals  which  they  declare  to  be  the  fac-similes  of 
Nature's  delightful  gems ;  but  the  world  will  not  accept  the 


302  Sinners  and  Saints. 

ruddy  residue  of  a  crucible  full  of  oxides  as  rubies,  or  the 
shining  fragments  of  calcined  bisulphides  as  emeralds.  No 
crucible  yet  constructed  can  hold  a  native  sapphire,  and  all 
the  alchemy  of  man  directed  to  this  point  has  failed  to 
extort  from  carbon  the  secret  of  its  diamond— the  little 
crystal  that  earth  with  all  her  chemistry  has  made  so  few  of, 
since  first  heat  and  water,  Nature's  gem-smiths,  joined  their 
forces  to  produce  the  glittering  stones.  They  placed  under 
requisition  every  kingdom  of  created  things,  and  in  a 
laboratory  in  mid-earth  set  in  joint  motion  all  the  powers 
that  move  the  volcano  and  the  earthquake,  that  re-fashion 
the  world's  form  and  substance,  that  govern  all  the  stately 
procession  of  natural  phenomena.  Yet  with  all  this  Titanic 
labour,  this  monstrous  co-operation  of  forces,  Nature  formed 
only  here  and  there  a  diamond,  and  here  and  there  a  ruby. 
Masses  of  quartz,  crystals  of  every  exquisite  tint,  ame- 
thystine and  blue,  as  beautiful,  perhaps,  in  delicacy  of 
hue  as  the  gems  themselves,  were  sown  among  the  rocks 
and  scattered  along  the  sands,  but  only  to  tell  us  how  near 
Nature  came  to  making  her  jewels  common,  and  how — just 
when  the  one  last  touch  was  needed — she  withheld  her  hand, 
so  that  man  should  confess  that  the  supreme  triumphs  of 
her  art  were  indeed  "  precious  " ! 


303 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 

Gigantic  America — Of  the  treatment  of  strangers — The  wild-life  world 
— Railway  Companies'  food-frauds — California  Felix — Prairie-dog 
history — The  exasperation  of  wealth — Blessed  with  good  oil — The 
meek  lettuce  and  judicious  onion — Salads  and  Salads — The  perils 
of  promiscuous  grazing. 

I  HAD  looked  forward  to  my  journey  from  San  Francisco 
to  St.  Louis  with  great  anticipations,  and,  though  I  had  no 
leisure  to  "stop  off  "on  the  tour,  I  was  not  disappointed. 
Six  continuous  days  and  nights  of  railway  travelling  carried 
me  through  such  prodigious  widths  of  land,  that  the  mere 
fact  of  traversing  so  much  space  had  fascinations.  And  the 
variations  of  scene  are  very  striking — the  corn  and  grape 
lands  of  Southern  California,  that  gradually  waste  away  into 
a  hideous  cactus  desert,  and  then  sink  into  a  furnace- valley, 
several  hundred  feet  below  the  level  of  the  sea ;  the  wild 
pastures  of  Texas,  that  seem  endless,  until  they  end  in 
swamped  woodlands ;  the  terrific  wildernesses  of  Arkansas, 
that  gradually  soften  down  into  the  beautiful  fertility  of 
Missouri.  It  was  a  delightful  journey,  and  taught  me  in 
one  week's  panorama  more  than  a  British  Museum  full  of 
books  could  have  done. 

Visitors  to  America  do  not  often  make  the  journey. 
They  are  beguiled  off  by  way  of  Santa  Fe  and  Kansas  City. 
I  confess  that  I  should  myself  have  been  very  glad  to  have 
visited  Santa  Fe,  and  some  day  or  other  I  intend  to  pitch 


304  Sinners  and  Saints. 

my  tent  for  a  while  in  San  Antonio.  But  if  I  had  to  give 
advice  to  a  traveller,  I  would  say : — 

"  Take  the  Southern  Pacific  to  El  Paso,  and  the  Texan 
Pacific  on  to  St.  Louis,  and  you  will  get  such  an  idea  of  the 
spaciousness  of  America  as  no  other  trip  can  give  you."  You 
will  see  prodigious  tracts  of  country  that  are  still  in  abo- 
riginal savagery  and  you  will  travel  through  whole  nations  of 
hybrid  people — Mexicans  and  mulattoes,  graduated  com- 
mixtures of  Red  Indian,  Spaniard,  and  Negro — that  some 
day  or  another  must  assume  a  very  considerable  political 
importance  in  the  Union. 

Nothing  would  do  Americans  more  good  than  a  tour 
through  Upper  India.  Nothing  could  do  European  visitors 
to  America  more  good  than  the  journey  from  San  Francisco 
to  St.  Louis  by  the  Southern -and-Texas  route.  The  Gan- 
getic  Valley,  the  Western  Ghats,  the  Himalayas,  are  all 
experiences  that  would  ameliorate,  improve,  and  impress 
the  American.  The  Arizona  cactus-plains,  the  Texan  flower- 
prairies,  the  Arkansas  swamps,  give  the  traveller  from 
Europe  a  more  truthful  estimate  of  America,  as  a  whole,  by 
their  vastness,  their  untamed  barbarism,  their  contrast  with 
the  civilized  and  domesticated  States,  than  years  of  travel 
on  the  beaten  tracks  from  city  to  city. 

And  here  just  a  word  or  two  to  those  American  gentlemen 
to  whom  it  falls  to  amuse  or  edify  the  sight-seeing  foreigner. 
Do  not  be  disappointed  if  he  shows  little  enthusiasm  for  your 
factories,  and  mills,  and  populous  streets.  Remember  that 
these  are  just  what  he  is  trying  to  escape  from.  The  chances 
are,  that  he  would  much  rather  see  a  prairie-dog  city,  than 
the  Omaha  smelting-works  ;  an  Indian  lodge  than  Pittsburg  ; 
one  wild  bison  than  all  the  cattle  of  Chicago ;  a  rattlesnake 
at  home  than  all  the  legislature  of  New  York  in  Albany  as- 
sembled. He  prefers  canons  to  streets,  mountain  streams 


The  Stranger  within  your  Gates.      305 

to  canals  ;  and  when  he  crosses  the  river,  it  is  the  river  more 
than  the  bridge  that  interests  him.  Of  course  it  is  well  for 
him  to  stay  in  your  gigantic  hotels,  go  down  into  your  gigan- 
tic silver-mines,  travel  on  your  gigantic  river-steamers,  and 
be  introduced  to  your  gigantic  millionaires.  These  are  all 
American,  and  it  is  good  for  him,  and  seemly,  that  he  should 
add  them  to  his  personal  experiences.  So  too,  he  should  eat 
terrapin  and  planked  shad,  clam-chowder,  canvas-back  ducks, 
and  soft-shelled  crabs.  For  these  are  also  American.  But  the 
odds  are  he  may  go  mad  and  bite  thee  fatally,  if  thou  wakest 
him  up  at  un-Christian  hours  to  go  and  see  a  woollen  fac- 
tory, simply  because  thou  art  proud  of  it— or  settest  him  down 
to  breakfast  before  perpetual  beefsteak,  merely  because  he 
is  familiar  with  that  food.  The  intelligent  traveller,  being  at 
Rome,  wishes  to  be  as  much  a  Roman  as  possible.  He  would 
be  as  aboriginal  as  the  aborigines.  And  it  is  a  mistake  to  go 
on  thrusting  things  upon  him  solely  on  the  ground  that  he  is 
already  weary  of  them.  As  I  write,  I  remember  many  hours 
of  bitter  anguish  which  I  have  endured — /  who  am  familiar 
with  Swansea,  who  have  stayed  in  Liverpool,  who  live  in 
London — in  loitering  round  smelting  works  and  factories,  and 
places  of  business,  trying  to  seem  interested,  and  pretending 
to  store  my  memory  with  statistics.  Sometimes  it  would  be 
almost  on  my  tongue  to  say,  "  And  now,  sir,  having  shown  off 
your  possessions  in  order  to  gratify  your  own  pride  in  them, 
suppose  you  show  me  something  for  my  gratification."  I 
never  did,  of  course,  but  I  groaned  in  the  spirit,  at  my 
precious  hours  being  wasted,  and  at  the  hospitality  which  so 
easily  forgot  itself  in  ostentatious  display.  I  have  perhaps 
said  more  than  I  meant  to  have  done.  But  all  I  mean  is 
this,  that  when  a  sojourner  is  at  your  mercy,  throw  him 
unreservedly  upon  his  own  resources  for  such  time  as  you  are 
busy,  and  deny  yourself  unreservedly  for  his  amusement  when 


306  Sinners  and  Saints. 

you  are  at  leisure.  But  do  not  spoil  all  his  day,  and  half 
your  own,  by  trying  to  work  your  usual  business  habits 
into  his  holiday,  and  take  advantage  of  his  foreign  helpless- 
ness to  show  him  what  an  important  person  (when  at 
home)  you  are  yourself.  Do  not,  for  instance,  take  him 
after  breakfast  to  your  office,  and  there  settling  to  your 
work  with  your  clerks,  ask  him  to  "amuse  himself"  with 
the  morning  papers — for  three  hours;  and  then,  after  a 
hurried  luncheon  at  your  usual  restaurant,  take  him  back  to 
the  office  for  a  few  minutes — another  hour ;  and  then,  hav- 
ing carefully  impressed  upon  him  that  you  are  taking  a 
half-holiday  solely  upon  his  account,  and  in  spite  of  all  the 
overwhelming  business  that  pours  in  upon  you,  do  not  take  him 
for  a  drive  in  the  Mall — in  order  to  show  off  your  new  horses 
to  your  own  acquaintances;  and  after  calling  at  a  few 
shops  (during  which  time  your  friend  stays  in  the  trap  and 
holds  the  reins),  do  not,  oh  do  not,  take  him  back  to  your 
house  to  a  solitary  dinner  "  quite  in  the  English  style."  No, 
sir;  this  is  not  the  way  to  entertain  the  wayfarer  in  such  aland 
of  wonders  as  this ;  and  you  ought  not  therefore  to  feel  sur- 
prise when  your  guest,  wearied  of  your  mistaken  hospitality, 
and  wearied  of  your  perpetual  suggestions  of  your  own  self- 
sacrifice  on  his  behalf,  suddenly  determines  not  to  be  a 
burden  upon  you  any  longer,  and  escapes  the  same  evening 
to  the  most  distant  hotel  in  the  town.  Nor  when  you  read 
this  ought  you  to  feel  angry.  You  did  him  a  great  wrong 
in  wasting  a  whole  day  out  of  his  miserable  three,  and 
exasperated  him  by  telling  his  friends  afterwards  what  a 
"  good  time  "  he  had  with  you.  These  few  words  are  his 
retaliation — not  written  either  in  the  vindictive  spirit  of 
reprisal,  but  as  advice  to  you  for  the  future  and  in  the  interests 
of  strangers  who  may  follow  him  within  your  gates. 

From  San  Francisco  to  Lathrop,  back  on  the  route  we 


The  Wild-life  world.  307 

came  by,  to  Oakland,  and  over  the  brown  waters  of  the 
arrogant  Sacramento — swelling  out  as  if  it  would  imitate 
the  ocean,  and  treating  the  Pacific  as  if  it  were  merely  "a 
neighbour," — and  out  into  thousands  and  thousands  of 
acres  of  corn,  stubble,  and  mown  hay-fields,  the  desolation 
worked  by  the  reaper-armies  of  peace-time  with  their  fragrant 
plunder  lying  in  heaps  all  ready  for  the  carts ;  and  the  camp- 
followers — the  squirrels,  and  the  rats,  and  the  finches  — all 
busy  gleaning  in  the  emptied  fields,  with  owls  sitting  watch- 
ful on  the  fences,  and  vigilant  buzzards  sailing  overhead. 
What  an  odd  life  this  is,  of  the  squirrels  and  the  buzzards, 
the  mice,  and  the  owls  !  They  used  to  watch  each  other 
in  these  fields,  just  in  the  very  same  way,  ages  before  the 
white  men  came.  The  colonization  of  the  Continent  means 
to  the  squirrels  and  mice  merely  a  change  in  their  food, 
to  the  hawks  and  the  owls  merely  a  slight  change  in  the 
flavour  of  the  squirrels  and  mice !  So,  too,  when  the 
Mississippi  suddenly  swelled  up  in  flood  the  other  day,  and 
overflowed  three  States,  it  lengthened  conveniently  the 
usual  water-ways  of  the  frogs,  and  gave  the  turtles  a  more 
comfortable  amplitude  of  marsh.  Hundreds  of  negroes 
narrowly  escaped  drowning,  it  is  true ;  but  what  an  awful 
destruction  there  was  of  smaller  animal  life !  Scores  of 
hamlets  were  doubtless  destroyed,  but  what  myriads  of 
insect  homes  were  ruined !  It  does  one  good,  I  think, 
sometimes  to  remember  the  real  aborigines  of  our  earth, 
the  worlds  that  had  their  laws  before  ours,  those  conser- 
vative antiquities  with  a  civilization  that  was  perfect  before 
man  was  created,  and  which  neither  the  catastrophes  of 
nature  nor  the  triumphs  of  science  have  power  to  abrogate. 
Oak  trees  dot  the  rolling  hills,  and  now  and  again  we 
come  to  houses  with  gardens  and  groves  of  eucalyptus,  but 
for  hours  we  travel  through  one  continuous  corn-field,  a 

x  2 


308  Sinners  and  Saints. 

veritable  Prairie  of  Wheat,  astounding  in  extent  and  in 
significance.  And  then  we  come  upon  the  backwaters  of 
the  San  Joacquin,  and  the  flooded  levels  of  meadow,  with 
their  beautiful  oak  groves,  and  herds  of  cattle  and  horses 
grazing  on  the  lush  grass  that  grows  between  the  beds  of 
green  tuilla  reeds.  It  is  a  lovely  reach  of  country  this,  and 
some  of  the  water  views  are  perfectly  enchanting.  But  why 
should  the  company  carefully  board  up  its  bridges  so  that 
travellers  shall  not  enjoy  the  scenes  up  and  down  the  rivers 
which  they  cross  ?  It  seems  to  me  a  pity  to  do  so,  seeing 
that  it  is  really  quite  unnecessary.  As  it  was,  we  saw  just 
enough  of  beauty  to  make  us  regret  the  boards.  Then, 
after  the  flooded  lands,  we  enter  the  vast  corn-fields  again, 
and  so  arrive  at  Lathrop. 

Here  we  dined,  and  well,  the  service  also  being  excellent, 
for  half  a  dollar.  Could  not  the  Union  Pacific  take  a 
lesson  from  the  Southern  Pacific,  and  instead  of  giving 
travellers  offal  at  a  dollar  a  head  at  Green  River  and 
other  eating-houses,  give  them  good  food  of  the  Lathrop 
kind  for  fifty  cents  ?  As  I  have  said  before,  the  wretched 
eating-houses  on  the  Union  Pacific  are  maintained,  con- 
fessedly, for  the  benefit  of  the  eating-houses,  and  the 
encouragement  of  local  colonization  ;  but  it  is  surely  unfair 
on  the  "transient"  to  make  him  contribute,  by  hunger, 
indigestion,  and  ill-temper,  to  the  perpetration  of  an  imposi- 
tion. On  the  Southern  and  the  Texas  Pacific  there  are 
first-rate  eating-places,  some  at  fifty  cents,  some  at  seventy- 
five,  and,  as  we  approach  an  older  civilization,  others  at  a 
dollar.  But  no  one  can  grudge  a  dollar  for  a  good  meal 
in  a  comfortable  room  with  civil  attendance  ;  while  on  the 
Union  Pacific  there  is  much  to  make  the  passenger  dis- 
satisfied, besides  the  nature  of  the  food,  for  it  is  often 
served  by  ill-mannered  waiters  in  cheerless  rooms.  A 


California  Felix.  309 

very  little  industry,  or  still  less  enterprise,  might  make  other 
eating-places  like  Humboldt. 

It  was  at  Lathrop  that  some  Californians  of  a  very  rough 
type  wished  to  invade  our  sleeping-car.  They  wanted  to 
know  the  "  racket,"  didn't  "  care  if  they  had  to  pay  fifty 
dollars,"  had  "  taken  a  fancy  "  to  it,  &c.,  &c. ;  but  the  con- 
ductor, with  considerable  tact,  managed  to  persuade  them 
to  abandon  their  design  of  travelling  like  gentlemen,  and 
so  they  got  into  another  car,  where  they  played  cards  for 
drinks,  fired  revolvers  out  of  the  window  at  squirrels 
between  the  deals,  and  got  up  a  quarrel  over  it  at  the 
end  of  every  hand. 

California  Felix !  Aye,  happy  indeed  in  its  natural  re- 
sources. For  we  are  again  whirling  along  through  prairies 
of  corn-land,  a  monotony  of  fertility  that  becomes  almost 
as  serious  as  the  grassy  levels  of  the  Platte,  the  sage- 
brush of  Utah,  or  the  gravelled  sands  of  Nevada.  And 
so  to  Modesta,  a  queer,  wide-streeted,  gum-treed  place,  not 
the  least  like  "  America,"  but  a  something  between  Madeira 
and  Port  Elizabeth.  It  has  not  2000  people  in  it  alto- 
gether, yet  walking  across  the  dusty  square  is  a  lady 
in  the  modes  of  Paris,  and  a  man  in  a  stove-pipe  hat  ! 
Another  stretch  of  farm-lands  brings  us  to  Merced,  and 
the  county  of  that  name,  a  miracle  of  fertility  even  among 
such  perpetual  marvels  of  richness.  If  I  were  to  say  what 
the  average  of  grain  per  acre  is,  English  farmers  might 
go  mad,  but  if  the  printer  will  put  it  into  some  very 
small  type  I  will  whisper  it  to  you  that  the  men  of 
Merced  grumble  at  seventy  bushels  per  acre.  I  should  like 
to  own  Merced,  I  confess.  I  am  a  person  of  moderate 
desires.  A  little  contents  me.  And  it  is  only  a  mere 
scrap,  after  all,  of  this  bewildering  California.  On  the 
counter  at  the  hotel  at  Merced  are  fir-cones  from  the 


3io  Sinners  and  Saints. 

Big  Trees  and  fossil  fragments  and  wondrous  minerals 
from  Yosemite,  and  odds  and  ends  of  Spanish  ornaments. 
The  whole  place  has  a  Spanish  air  about  it.  This  used 
to  be  the  staging-point  for  travellers  to  the  Valley  of 
Wonders,  but  times  have  changed,  and  with  them  the 
stage-route,  so  Merced  is  left  on  one  side  by  the  tourist 
stream.  Leaving  it  ourselves,  we  traverse  patches  of  wild 
sunflower,  and  then  find  ourselves  out  on  wide  levels  of 
uncultivated  land,  waiting  for  the  San  Joacquin  (pronounced, 
by  the  way,  Sanwa-Keen)  canal,  to  bring  irrigation  to  them. 
How  the  Mormons  would  envy  the  Californians  if  they 
were  their  neighbours,  and  the  contrast  is  indeed  pathetic, 
between  the  alkaline  wastes  of  Utah  and  the  fat  glebes 
of  Merced  ! 

At  present,  however,  a  nation  of  little  owls  possesses 
the  uncultivated  acres,  and  ground  squirrels  hold  the 
land  from  them  on  fief,  paying,  no  doubt,  in  their 
vassalage  a  feudal  tribute  of  their  plump,  well-nourished 
bodies.  To  right  and  left  lies  spread  out  an  immense 
prairie-dog  settlement,  deserted  now,  however ;  and  beyond 
it,  on  either  side,  a  belt  of  pretty  timbered  land  stretches 
to  the  coast  range,  which  we  see  far  away  on  the  right, 
and  to  the  foot-hills— the  "  Sewaliks  "  of  the  Sierra  Nevada, 
— which  rise  up,  capped  and  streaked  with  snow,  on  the 
left. 

Wise  men  read  history  for  us  backwards  from  the  records 
left  by  ruins.  Why  not  do  the  same  here  with  this  vast 
City  of  the  Prairie-Dogs  that  continues  to  right  and  left 
of  us,  miles  after  miles?  Once  upon  a  time,  then, 
there  was  a  powerful  nation  of  prairie-dogs  in  this  place, 
and  they  became,  in  process  of  years,  debauched  by  luxury, 
and  weakened  by  pride.  So  they  placed  the  government 
in  the  hands  of  the  owls,  whom  they  invited  to  come  and 


Prairie-dog  History.  311 

live  with  them,  and  gave  over  the  protection  of  the  country 
to  the  rattlesnakes,  whom  they  maintained  as  janissaries. 
But  the  owls  and  the  rattlesnakes,  finding  all  the  power  in 
their  own  hands,  and  seeing  that  the  prairie-dogs  had  grown 
idle  and  fat  and  careless,  conspired  together  to  overthrow 
their  masters.  Now  there  lived  near  them,  but  in  sub- 
jection to  the  prairie-dogs,  a  race  of  ground-squirrels,  a 
hard-working,  thick-skinned,  bushy-tailed  folk ;  and  the 
owls  and  the  rattlesnakes  made  overtures  to  the  ground- 
squirrels,  and  one  morning,  when  the  prairie-dogs  were  out 
feeding  and  gambolling  in  the  meadows,  the  conspirators 
rushed  to  arms,  and  while  the  rattlesnakes  and  the  ground- 
squirrels,  their  accomplices,  seized  possession  of  the  vacated 
city,  the  owls  attacked  the  prairie-dogs  with  their  beaks  and 
wings.  And  the  end  of  it  was  disaster,  utter  and  terrible ; 
and  the  prairie-dogs  fled  across  the  plains  into  the  wood- 
land for  shelter,  but  did  not  stay  there,  but  passed  on,  in 
one  desolating  exodus,  to  the  foot-hills  beyond  the  wood- 
land. And  then  the  owls  and  the  rattlesnakes  and  the 
ground-squirrels  divided  the  deserted  city  among  them. 
And  to  this  day  the  ground-squirrels  pay  a  tribute  of  their 
young  to  the  owls  and  the  rattlesnakes,  as  the  price  of 
possession  and  of  their  protection.  But  they  are  always 
afraid  that  the  prairie-dogs  may  come  back  again  some 
day  (as  the  Mormons  are  going  back  to  Jackson  County, 
Missouri),  to  claim  their  old  homesteads;  and  so,  when- 
ever the  ground-squirrels  go  out  to  feed  and  gambol  in 
the  meadows,  the  rattlesnakes  remain  at  the  bottom  of 
the  holes,  and  the  owls  sit  on  sentry  duty  at  the  top. 
Isn't  that  as  good  as  any  other  conjectural  history? 

And  then  Madera,  with  its  great  canal  all  rafted  over 
with  floating  timber,  and  more  indications,  in  the  eating- 
house,  of  the  neighbourhood  of  the  Big  Trees  and  Yosemite. 


312  Sinners  and  Saints. 

For  this  is  the  point  of  departure  now  in  vogue,  the  distance 
being  only  seventy  miles,  and  the  roads  good.  But  of  the 
trip  to  Clark's,  anck thence  on  to  "  Yohamite  "  and  to  Fresno 
Grove — hereafter.  Meanwhile,  grateful  for  the  good  meal 
at  Madera,  we  are  again  smoking  the  meditative  pipe,  and 
looking  out  upon  Owl-land,  with  the  birds  all  duly  perched 
at  their  posts,  and  their  bushy-tailed  companions  enjoying 
life  immensely  in  family  parties  among  the  short  grass. 
Herds  of  cattle  are  seen  here  and  there,  and  wonderful 
their  condition,  too;  and  thus,  through  flat  pastures  all 
pimpled  over  with  old,  fallen -in,  "  dog-houses,"  we  reach 
Fresno.  This  monotony  of  fertility  is  beginning  to  exas- 
perate me.  It  is  a  trait  of  my  personal  character,  this  objec- 
tion to  monotonous  prosperity.  I  like  to  see  streaks  of  lean. 
Thus  I  begin  to  think  of  Vanderbilts  as  of  men  who  have 
done  me  an  injury ;  and  unless  Jay  Gould  recovers  his  ground 
with  me,  by  conferring  a  share  upon  me,  I  shall  feel  called 
upon  to  take  personal  exception  to  his  great  wealth.  And 
now  comes  Fresno,  a  welcome  stretch  of  land' that  requires 
irrigation  to  be  fruitful,  a  land  that  only  gives  her  favours 
to  earnest  wooers,  and  does  not,  like  the  rest  of  California, 
smile  on  every  vagabond  admirer.  Where  the  ground  is 
not  cultivated,  it  forms  fine  parade-ground  for  the  owls,  and 
rare  pleasaunces  for  the  squirrels.  But  what  a  nymph  this 
same  water  is  !  Look  at  this  patch  of  greensward  all  set  in  a 
bezel  of  bright  foliage  and  bright  with  wild  flowers  !  In 
mythology  there  is  a  goddess  under  whose  feet  the  earth 
breaks  into  blossoms  and  leaves.  I  forget  her  name.  But 
it  should  have  been  Hydore.  And  now,  as  the  evening 
gathers  round,  we  see  the  outlines  of  the  Sierras,  away  on 
the  left,  blurring  into  twilight  tints  of  blue  and  grey — and 
then  to  bed. 

California  is  blest  in  the  olive.     It  grows  to  perfection, 


Blessed  with  good  Oil.  3 1 3 

and  the  result  is  that  the  California  is  no  stranger  to  the 
priceless  luxury  of  good  oil,  and  can  enjoy,  at  little  cost,  the 
delights  of  a  good  salad.  How  often,  in  rural  England,  with 
acres  of  salad  material  growing  fresh  and  crisp  all  round  me, 
have  I  groaned  at  the  impossibility  of  a  salad,  by  reason 
of  the  atrocious  character  of  the  local  grocer's  oil !  But  in 
California  all  the  oil  is  good,  and  the  vegetable  ingredients 
of  the  fascinating  bowl  are  superb.  But  in  America  there  is 
a  fatal  determination  towards  mayonnaise,  and  every  com- 
mon waiter  considers  himself  capable  of  mixing  one.  So 
th'at  even  in  California  your  hopes  are  sometimes  blighted, 
and  your  good  humour  turned  to  gall,  by  fools  rushing  in 
where  even  angels  should  have  to  pass  an  examination 
before  admission.  A  simpler  salad,  however,  is  better  than 
any  mayonnaise,  and  once  the  proportions  are  mastered, 
a  child  may  be  entrusted  with  the  mixture. 

The  lettuce,  by  long  familiarity,  has  come  to  be  considered 
the  true  basis  of  all  salad,  and  in  its  generous  expanse  of 
faintly  flavoured  leaf,  so  cool  and  juicy  and  crisp  when 
brought  in  fresh  from  the  garden,  it  has  certainly  some  claims 
to  the  proud  position.  But  a  multitude  of  salads  can  be 
made  without  any  lettuce  at  all,  and  it  is  doubtful  whether 
either  Greece  or  Rome  used  it  as  an  ingredient  of  the  bowl 
in  which  the  austere  endive  and  pungent  onion  always  found 
a  place.  Now-a-days  however,  lettuce  is  a  deserving  favourite, 
It  has  no  sympathies  or  antipathies,  and  no  flavour  strong 
enough  to  arouse  enthusiasm  or  aversion.  It  is  not  aggressive 
or  self-assertive,  but,  like  those  amiable  people  with  whom 
no  one  ever  quarrels,  is  always  ready  to  be  of  service,  no 
matter  what  company  may  be  thrust  upon  it,  or  what  treat- 
ment it  has  to  undergo.  Opinions  of  its  own  it  has  none, 
so  it  easily  adopts  those  of  others,  and  takes  upon  itself — 
and  so  distributes  over  the  whole— any  properties  of  taste  or 


314  Sinners  and  Saints. 

smell  that  may  be  communicated  to  it  by  its  neighbours. 
An  onion  might  be  rubbed  with  lettuce  for  an  indefinite 
period  and  betray  no  alteration  in  its  original  nature,  but 
the  lettuce  if  only  touched  with  onion  becomes  at  once  a 
modified  onion  itself,  and.no  ablution  will  remove  from  it 
the  suspicion  of  the  contact.  The  gentle  leaf  is  therefore 
often  ill-used,  but,  after  all,  even  this,  the  meekest  of  vege- 
tables, will  turn  upon  the  oppressor,  and  if  not  eaten  young 
and  fresh,  or  if  slaughtered  with  a  steel  blade,  will  convert 
the  salad  that  should  have  been  short  and  sharp  in  the 
mouth  into  a  basin  of  limp  rags,  that  cling  together  in 
sodden  lumps,  and  when  swallowed  conduce  to  melancholy 
and  repentance.  The.  antithesis  of  the  lettuce  is  the  onion. 
Both  are  equally  essential  to  the  perfect  salad,  but  for  most 
opposite  reasons.  The  lettuce  must  be  there  to  give  sub- 
stance to  the  whole,  to  retain  the  oil  and  salt  and  vinegar,  to 
borrow  fragrance  and  to  look  green  and  crisp.  It  underlies 
everything  else,  and  acts  as  conductor  to  all,  like  conscious- 
ness in  the  human  mind.  It  is  the  bulk  of  the  salad  so  far 
as  appearances  go,  and  yet  it  alone  could  be  turned  out 
without  affecting  the  flavour  of  the  dish.  It  is  only  the 
canvas  upon  which  the  artist  paints. 

How  different  is  the  onion !  It  adds  nothing  to  the 
amount,  and  contributes  nothing  to  the  sight,  yet  it  per- 
meates the  whole ;  not,  however,  as  an  actual  presence,  but 
rather  as  a  reflection,  a  shadow,  or  a  suspicion.  Like  the 
sunset-red,  it  tinges  everything  it  falls  upon,  and  everywhere 
reveals  new  beauties.  It  is  the  master-mind  in  the  mixed 
assembly,  allowing  each  voice  to  be  heard,  but  guiding  the 
many  utterances  to  one  symmetrical  result.  It  keeps  a 
strong  restraint  upon  itself,  helping  out,  with  a  judicious 
hint  only,  those  who  need  it,  and  never  interfering  with 
neighbours  that  can  assert  their  own  individuality.  I 


Salads  and  Salads.  3 1 5 

speak,  of  course,  of  the  onion  as  it  appears  in  the  civilized 
salad,  and  not  the  outrageous  vegetable  that  the  Prophet 
condemned  and  Italy  cannot  do  without.  Some  pretend  to 
have  a  prejudice  against  the  onion,  but  as  an  American 
humourist — Dudley  Warner  —  says,  "  There  is  rather  a 
cowardice  in  regard  to  it.  I  doubt  not  all  men  and 
women  love  the  onion,  but  few  confess  it." 

In  simplicity  lies  perfection.  The  endive  and  beetroot, 
fresh  bean,  and  potato,  radish  and  mustard  and  cress, 
asparagus  and  celery,  cabbage-hearts  and  parsley,  tomato 
and  cucumber,  green  peppers  and  capers,  and  all  the  other 
ingredients  that  in  this  salad  or  in  that  find  a  place  are,  no 
doubt,  well  enough  in  their  way ;  but  the  greatest  men  of 
modern  times  have  agreed  in  saying  that,  given  three  vege- 
tables and  a  master-mind,  a  perfect  salad  may  be  the  result. 
But  for  the  making  there  requires  to  be  present  a  miser  to 
dole  out  the  vinegar,  a  spendthrift  to  sluice  on  the  oil,  a 
sage  to  apportion  the  salt,  and  a  maniac  to  stir.  The 
household  that  can  produce  these  four,  and  has  at 
command  a  firm,  stout-hearted  lettuce,  three  delicate  spring 
onions,  and  a  handful  of  cress,  need  ask  help  from  none  and 
envy  none ;  for  in  the  consumption  of  the  salad  thus 
ambrosially  resulting,  all  earth's  cares  may  be  for  the  while 
forgotten,  and  the  consumer  snap  his  fingers  at  the  stocks, 
whether  they  go  up  or  down.  There  is  no  need  to  go  beyond 
these  frugal  ingredients.  In  Europe  it  is  true  men  range 
hazardously  far  afield  for  their  green  meat.  They  tell  us, 
for  instance,  of  the  fearful  joy  to  be  snatched  from  nettle- 
tops,  but  it  is  not  many  who  care  thus  to  rob  the  hairy 
caterpillar  of  his  natural  food ;  nor  in  eating  the  hawthorn 
buds,  where  the  sparrows  have  been  before  us,  is  there  such 
prospect  of  satisfaction  as  to  make  us  hurry  to  the  hedges. 
The  dandelion,  too,  we  are  told,  is  a  wholesome  herb,  and 


3 1 6  Sinners  and  Saints. 


so  is  wild  sorrel ;  but  who  among  us  can  find  the  time  to 
go  wandering  about  the  country  grazing  with  the  cattle,  and 
playing  Nebuchadnezzar  among  the  green  stuff?  In  the 
Orient  the  native  is  never  at  a  loss  for  salad,  for  he  grabs  the 
weeds  at  a  venture,  and  devours  them  complacently,  relying 
upon  "  fate  "  to  work  them  all  up  to  a  good  end ;  and  the 
Chinaman,  so  long  as  he  can  only  boil  it  first,  turns  every- 
thing that  grows  into  a  vegetable  for  the  table. 

But  it  would  not  be  safe  to  send  a  public  of  higher 
organization  into  the  highways  and  ditches  ;  for  a  rabid 
longing  for  vegetable  food,  unballasted  by  botanical  know- 
ledge, might  conduce  to  the  consumption  of  many  unwhole- 
some plants,  with  their  concomitant  insect  evils.  Dreadful 
stories  are  told  of  the  results  arising  from  the  careless  eating 
of  unwashed  watercress  ;  and  in  country  places  the  horrors 
that  are  said  to  attend  the  swallowing  of  certain  herbs  with- 
out a  previous  removal  of  the  things  that  inhabit  them  are 
sufficient  to  deter  the  most  ravenously  inclined  from  taking 
a  miscellaneous  meal  off  the  roadside,  and  from  promiscuous 
grazing  in  hedge-rows. 


CHAPTER  XXV. 

The  Carlyle  of  vegetables— The  moral  in  blight— Bee-farms — The  city 
of  Angels — Of  squashes — Curious  Vegetation — The  incompatibility 
of  camels  and  Americans— Are  rabbits  "  seals  "  ? — All  wilderness 
and  no  weather— An  "infinite  torment  of  flies." 

THE  cactus  is  the  Carlyle  of  vegetation.  Here,  in 
Southern  California,  it  assumes  many  of  its  most  uncouth 
and  affected  attitudes,  puts  on  all  its  prickles  and  its  angles, 
and  its  blossoms  of  rare  splendour.  Those  who  are  better 
informed  than  myself  assure  me  that  the  cactus  is  a  vege- 
table. I  take  their  word  for  it.  Indeed,  the  cactus  itself 
may  have  said  so  to  them.  There  is  nothing  a  cactus  might 
not  do.  But  it  surely  stands  among  plants  somewhere 
where  bats  do  among  animals,  and  the  apteryx  among  birds. 
Look  for  instance  at  this  tract  of  cactus  which  we  cross 
before  Caliente.  There  are  chair-legs  and  footstools, 
pokers,  brooms,  and  telegraph-poles ;  but  can  you  honestly 
call  them  plants  ? 

But  stay  a  moment.  Can  you  not  call  them  plants  ?  Look  ! 
See  those  superb  blossoms  of  crimson  upon  that  footstool  of 
thorns,  those  golden  stars  upon  the  telegraph-pole  yonder, 
those  beautiful  flowers  of  rosy  pink  upon  that  besom-head. 
Yes,  they  are  plants,  and  worthy  of  all  admiration,  for  they 
have  the  genius  of  a  true  originality,  and  the  sudden 
splendour  of  the  flowers  they  put  forth  are  made  all  the 
more  admirable  by  the  surprise  of  them  and  the  eccentricity. 


3 1 8  Sinners  and  Saints. 

And  with  them  grows  the  yucca,  that  wonderful  plant  that 
sends  up  from  its  rosette  of  bayonets— they  call  it  the 
"Spanish  bayonet"  in  the  West — a  green  shaft,  six  feet 
high,  and  all  hung  with  white  waxen  bells.  I  got  out  of 
the  train  at  one  of  its  stoppages,  and  cut  a  couple  of  heads 
of  this  wonderland  plant,  and  found  the  blossoms  on  each 
numbered  between  400  and  406.  And  there  was  a  certain 
moral  discipline  in  it  too.  For  we  found  these  exquisite  flower- 
hung  shafts  were  smothered  in  "  blight,"  those  detestable, 
green,  sticky  aphides,  that  sometimes  make  rose-buds  so 
dreadful,  and  are  the  enemy  of  all  hothouses.  Looking  out 
at  the  yuccas  as  we  passed,  those  splendid  coronals  of 
waxen  blossoms — pure  enough  for  cathedral  chancels — it 
seemed  as  if  they  were  things  of  a  perfect  and  unsullied  beauty. 
My  arrival  with  them  was  hailed  with  cries  of  admiration, 
and  for  the  first  moment  enthusiasm  was  supreme.  But  the 
next,  alas  for  impure  beauty!  the  swarms  of  clinging 
parasites  were  detected.  Hands  that  had  been  stretched 
out  to  hold  such  things  of  grace,  shrank  from  even  touch- 
ing them,  known  to  be  polluted,  and  so,  at  last,  with  honours 
that  were  more  than  half  condescension,  the  yucca-spikes 
were  put  out  on  the  platform,  to  be  admired  from  a  distance. 
Passing  through  the  cactus  land  we  saw  numbers  of  tiny 
rabbits — the  "cotton  tails,"  as  distinguished  from  the  "mule- 
ears  "  or  jack-rabbits — dodging  about  the  stems  and  grass ; 
but  in  about  an  hour  the  grotesque  vegetable  began  to  sober 
down  into  a  botanical  conglomerate  that  defies  analysis, 
and  gives  the  little  rabbits  a  denser  covert.  The  general 
result  of  this  change  in  the  botany  was  as  Asiatic,  as  Indian 
as  it  could  be,  but  why,  it  were  difficult  to  say,  unless  it 
was  the  prevalence  of  the  babool-like  "muskeet,"  and 
the  beautiful  but  murderous  dhatura — the  "thorn-apple" 
of  Europe.  Yet  there  was  sage-brush  enough  to  make 


Bee-farms.  319 


Asia  impossible,  while  the  variations  of  the  botany  were 
too  sudden  for  any  generalizations  of  character.  And  so 
on,  past  an  oil-mill  on  the  left — petroleum  bubbling  out  of 
the  hillock — and  a  great  farm,  "  Newhall's,"  on  the  right ; 
past  Andrews  and  up  the  hill  to  the  San  Fernando  tunnel, 
7000  feet  in  length,  and  then  down  the  hill  again  into  San 
Fernando.  Has  any  one  ever  "stopped  off"  at  San 
Fernando  and  spent  any  time  with  the  monks  at  their 
picturesque  old  mission,  smothered  in  orangeries,  and 
dozed  away  the  summer  hours  amongst  them,  watching 
the  peaches  ripen  and  the  bees  gathering  honey,  and  opening 
bottles  of  mellow  California  wine  to  help  along  the  intervals 
between  drowsy  mass  and  merry  meal-times  ?  I  think  when 
my  sins  weigh  too  heavily  on  me  to  let  me  live  among  men, 
I  will  retire  to  San  Fernando,  to  the  bee-keeping,  orange- 
growing  fathers,  ask  them  to  receive  my  bones,  and  start  a 
beehive  and  an  orange-tree  of  my  own.  It  does  not  seem 
to  me,  looking  forward*  to  it,  a  very  arduous  life,  and  I 
might  then,  at  last,  overtake  that  seldom-captured  will-o'- 
the-wisp,  fleet-footed  Leisure. 

The  bees,  by  the  way,  are  kept  on  a  "  ranch,"  whole  herds 
and  herds  of  bees,  all  hived  together  in  long  rows  of  hives, 
hundreds  to  the  acre.  They  fly  afield  to  feed  themselves, 
and  come  home  with  their  honey  to  make  the  monks  rich. 
I  am  not  sure  that  these  fathers  have  done  all  they  might 
for  the  country  they  settled  in,  and  yet  who  is  not  grate- 
ful to  the  brethren  for  the  picturesqueness  of  comparative 
antiquity?  Their  very  idleness  is  a  charm,  and  their  quiet, 
comfortable  life,  half  in  cloisters,  half  in  orange  groves,  is 
a  delight  and  a  refreshment  in  modern  America. 

But  the  loveliness  of  their  country,  and  the  wonder  of  its  . 
possibilities !     Can    any   one    be   surprised    that    we   are 
approaching  the  city  of  Los  Angeles  ?    A  bright  river  comes 


320  Sinners  and  Saints. 

tumbling  along  under  cliffs  all  hung  with  flowering  creepers, 
and  between  banks  that  are  beautiful  with  ferns  and  flowers, 
and  the  land  widens  out  into  cornfield  and  meadow;  and  away 
to  right  and  left,  lying  under  the  hills  and  overflowing  into  all 
the  valleys,  are  the  vineyards,  and  orchards,  and  orangeries 
that  make  the  City  of  Angels  worthy  of  a  king's  envy  and 
a  people's  pride.  As  yet,  of  course,  it  is  the  day  of  small 
things,  as  compared  with  what  will  be  when  water  is  every- 
where ;  but  even  now  Los  Angeles  is  a  place  for  the  artist  to 
stay  in  and  the  tourist  to  visit.  There  is  a  great  deal  to 
remind  you  of  the  East,  in  this  valley  of  dark-skinned  men, 
and  in  the  "  bazaars,"  with  their  long  ropes  of  chilis  dangling 
on  the  door-posts,  the  fruit  piled  up  in  baskets  on  the  mules, 
the  brown  bare-legged  children  under  hats  with  wide  ragged 
brims,  there  are  all  the  familiar  features  of  Southern  Europe, 
hot,  strong- smelling,  and  picturesque.  But  Los  Angeles 
shares  with  the  rest  of  California  the  disadvantage  under 
which  all  climates  of  great  forcing  power  and  rudimentary 
science  must  lie.  for  its  fruits,  though  exquisite  to  look  upon, 
often  prodigious  in  size,  and  always  incredible  in  quantity, 
fail,  as  a  rule,  dismally  in  flavour.  The  figs  are  very  large, 
both  green  and  black,  but  they  seem  to  have  ripened  in 
a  perpetual  rainstorm  ;  the  oranges  look  perfection,  and  are 
as  bad  as  any  I  have  had  in  America ;  the  peaches  are 
splendid  in  their  appearance,  for  their  coarse  barbaric 
skins  are  painted  with  deep  yellow  and  red,  but  they  ought 
not  to  be  called  "  peaches  "  at  all.  They  would  taste  just 
as  well  by  any  other  name,  and  the  traveller  who  knows 
the  peaches  of  Europe,  or  the  peaches  of  Persia,  would  not 
then  be  disappointed. 

So  away  from  Los  Angeles,  with  its  groups  of  idle, 
brown-faced  men,  in  their  flap-brimmed  Mexican  hats, 
leaning  against  the  posts  smoking  thin  cigars,  and  its 


Of  Squashes.  321 


groups  of  listless,  dark- eyed  women,  with  bright  kerchiefs 
round  their  heads  or  necks,  sitting  on  the  doorsteps  ;  away 
through  valleys  of  corn,  broken  up  by  orangeries  and  vine- 
yards, where  the  river  flows  through  a  tangle  of  willow 
and  elder  and  muskeet ;  past  the  San  Gabriel  Mission, 
overtaken,  poor  idle  old  fragment  of  the  past,  by  the  rail- 
road civilization  of  the  present,  and  already  isolated  in 
its  sleepiness  and  antiquity  from  the  busier,  younger  world 
about  it ;  on  through  a  scene  of  perpetual  fertility,  orange 
groves  and  lemon,  fields  of  vegetables  and  corn,  with 
pomegranates  all  aglow  with  scarlet  flowers,  and  eucalyptus- 
trees  in  their  ragged  foliage  of  blue  and  brown. 

The  squash  grows  here  to  a  monstrous  size.  "  I  have  seen 
them,  sir,"  said  a  passenger,  "weighing  as  much  as  your- 
self." The  impertinence  of  it !  Think  of  a  squash 
venturing  to  turn  the  scale  against  me.  Perhaps  it  will 
pretend  that  it  has  as  good  a  seat  on  a  horse  ?  Or  will 
it  play  me  a  single-wicket  match  at  cricket?  I  should 
not  have  minded  so  much  if  it  had  been  a  water-melon, 
or  even  a  "  simlin,"  or  some  other  refined  variety  of 
the  family.  But  that  a  squash,  the  *  poor  relation '  of 

the    pumpkin,    should .     But    enough.      Let    us    be 

generous,  even  to  squashes. 

Some  one  ought  to  write  the  psychology  of  the  squash. 
There  is  a  very  large  human  family  of  the  same  name 
and  character.  If  you  ask  what  the  bulky,  tasteless  thing 
is  good  for,  people  always  say,  "Oh,  for  a  pie!"  Now 
that  is  the  only  form  in  which  I  have  tasted  it.  And  I 
can  say,  from  personal  experience,  therefore,  that  it  is 
not  good  for  that.  It  never  hurts  anybody,  or  speaks  ill 
of  any  one  -  an  inoffensive,  tedious,  stupid  person,  too 
commonplace  to  be  either  liked  or  disliked.  Economical 
parents  say  squashes  are  "  very  good  for  children,"  espe- 

Y 


322  Sinners  and  Saints. 

cially  in  pies.  They  may  be.  But  they  are  not  conducive 
to  the  formation  of  character. 

Some  one,  too,  ought  to  visit  these  old  Franciscan 
missions  in  Southern  California — some  one  who  could  write 
about  them,  and  sketch  them.  They  are  very  delightful ; 
the  more  delightful,  perhaps,  because  they  are  in  the 
United  States,  in  the  same  continent  as  "  live  "  towns,  as 
Chicago,  and  Omaha,  and  Leadville,  and  Tombstone. 
Scattered  about  among  the  roiling  grassland  are  hollows 
filled  with  orchards,  in  which  old  settlements  and  new  are 
fairly  embowered,  while  the  missions  themselves  are  sin- 
gularly picturesque ;  and  San  Gabriel's  Church,  they  say, 
has  a  pretty  peal  of  bells,  which  the  monks  carried  over- 
land from  Mexico  in  the  old  Spaniard  days,  and  which  still 
chime  for  vespers  as  sweetly  as  ever.  What  a  wonder  it  must 
have  been  to  the  wandering  Indians  to  hear  that  most 
beautiful  of  all  melodies,  the  chime  of  bells,  ascending 
with  the  evening  mists  from  under  the  feet  of  the  hills ! 
No  wonder  they  had  campanile  legends,  these  poor  poets 
of  the  river  and  prairie,  and  still  speak  of  Valleys  of  En- 
chantment whence  music  may  be  heard  at  nightfall  ! 

Past  Savanna  and  Monte,  with  its  swine  droves,  and  its 
settlement  of  men  who  live  on  "  hog  and  hominy,"  past 
Puente,  and  Spadra,  and  Pomona,  into  Colton,  where  we 
dine,  and  well,'  for  half  a  dollar,  enjoying  for  dessert  a 
chat  with  a  very  pretty  girl.  She  tells  us  of  the  beauties 
of  San  Bernardino,  and  I  could  easily  credit  even  more 
than  she  says.  For  San  Bernardino  was  settled  by 
Mormons  some  fifty  years  ago,  and  has  all  the  charms 
of  Salt  Lake  City,  v/ith  those  of  natural  fertility  and  a 
profusion  of  natural  vegetaton  added.  But  I  can  say 
nothing  of  San  Bernardino,  for  the  train  does  not  enter  it. 
And  then,  reinforced  by  another  engine — a  dumpy  engine- 


Curious  Vegetation.  323 

of-all-work  sort  of  "  help  "—clambers  up  the  San  Gorgonio 
pass.  All  along  the  road  I  notice  a  yellow  thread-like 
epiphyte,  or  air-plant,  tangling  itself  round  the  muskeet- 
trees,  and  killing  them.  They  call  it  the  "  mistletoe  "  here ; 
but  it  is  the  same  curious  plant  that  strangles  the  orange 
trees  in  Indian  gardens,  and  the  jujubes  in  the  jungles, 
that  cobwebs  the  aloe  hedges,  and  hangs  its  pretty  little 
white  bells  of  flower  all  over  the  undergrowth.  On  the 
bare,  sandy  ground  a  wild  gourd,  with  yellow  flowers  and 
sharp-pointed  spear-head  leaves,  throws  out  long  strands, 
that  creep  flat  upon  the  ground  with  a  curious  snake- 
like  appearance.  Clumps  of  wild  oleander  find  a  frugal 
subsistence,  and  here  and  there  an  elder  or  a  walnut 
manages  to  thrive.  But  the  profuse  fertility  of  California 
is  fast  disappearing.  And  so  to  Gorgonio,  at  the  top  of 
the  pass ;  and  then  we  begin  to  go  down,  down,  down, 
till  we  are  not  surprised  to  hear  that  we  are  far  below 
the  level  of  the  sea.  The  cactus  has  once  more  reasserted 
itself,  and  to  right  and  left  are  "  forests  "  of  this  grotesque 
candelabra-like  vegetable,  with  stiff  arms,  covered  apparently 
with  some  woolly  sort  of  fluff.  The  soil  beneath  them  is  a 
desperate-looking  desert-sand,  and  here  and  there  are  bare 
levels  of  white  glistening  sterility.  But  water  works  such 
wonders  that  there  is  no  saying  what  may  happen.  At 
present,  however,  it  is  pure,  unadulterated  desert — wilder- 
ness enough  to  delight  a  camel,  were  it  not  for  the  quantity 
of  stones  which  strew  the  waste,  and  which  would  make 
it  an  abomination  to  that  fastidious  beast.  Camels  were 
once  imported  into  the  country,  but  the  experiment  failed 
— and  no  wonder.  Imagine  the  modern  American  trying 
to  drive  a  camel !  The  Mexican  might  do  it,  but  I  doubt 
if  any  other  race  in  all  America  could  be  found  with  sufficient 
contempt  for  time,  sufficient  patience  in  idleness,  sufficient 

Y    2 


324  Sinners  and  Saints. 

camelishness  in  fact,  to  "  personally  conduct "  a  camel  train. 
There  is  a  tradition,  by  the  way,  that  somewhere  in 
Arizona,  wild  camels,  the  descendants  of  the  discarded  brutes, 
are  to  be  met  with  to  this  day,  enjoying  a  life  without 
occupations. 

At  present  the  most  formidable  animal  in  possession  of 
these  cactus  plains  is  the  rabbit.  But  such  a  licence  of 
ears  as  the  creature  has  taken  !  It  must  be  developing 
them  as  weapons  of  offence :  the  future  "  horned  rabbit." 
They  call  these  long-eared  animals  "  mules,"  and  deny  that 
you  can  make  a  rabbit-pie  of  them.  This  seems  to  me 
hardly  fair  on  the  rabbit.  But  in  England  the  small  rodent 
suffers  under  even  more  pointed  injustice. 

A  certain  railway  porter,  it  is  said,  was  once  sorely 
puzzled  by  a  tortoise  which  the  owner  wished  to  send  by 
train.  The  official  was  nonplussed  by  the  inquiry  as  to  which 
head  of  the  tariff  the  creature  should  be  considered  to  fall 
under ;  but,  at  last,  deciding  that  it  was  neither  "  a  dog  " 
nor  "  a  parrot "  (the  broad  zoological  classification  in  use 
on  British  railways)  pronounced  the  tortoise  to  be  "  an  in- 
sect," and  therefore  not  liable  to  charge.  This  profound 
decision  was  prefaced  by  a  brief  enumeration  of  the  animals 
which  the  railway  company  call  "  dogs."  "  Cats  is  dogs, 
and  rabbits  is  dogs,  and  so  is  guinea-pigs/'  said  the  porter, 
"  but  squirrels  in  cages  is  parrots  ! " 

But  please  note  particularly  the  porter's  confusion  of  iden- 
tity with  regard  to  the  rabbit.  This  excellent  rodent  is 
emphatically  called  "  a  dog."  But  the  rabbit  knows  much 
better  than  to  mistake  itself  for  a  dog.  It  might  as  well 
think  itself  a  poacher. 

Meanwhile,  other  attempts  have  been  made  to  confuse  it 
as  to  its  own  individuality ;  and  if  the  rabbit  eventually 
gives  itself  up  as  a  hopeless  conundrum,  it  is  not  more  than 


Are  Rabbits  Seals  f  325 

might  be  expected.  Its  fur  is  now  called  "  seal-skin  "  in  the 
cheap  goods  market ;  the  fluke  has  attacked  it  as  if  it  were 
a  sheep ;  while  in  recent  English  elections,  when  the  Ground 
Game  Bill  was  to  the  front,  it  was  a  very  important  factor.  All 
the  same,  everybody  goes  on  shooting  it  just  as  if  it  were  a 
mere  rabbit.  This,  I  would  contend,  is  hardly  fair  ;  for  if  its 
skin  is  really  sealskin,  the  rabbit  must,  of  necessity,  be  a  seal, 
and,  as  such,  ought  to  be  harpooned  from  a  boat,  and  not 
shot  at  with  double-barrelled  guns.  It  is  absurd  to  talk  of 
going  out  "  sealing "  in  gaiters,  with  a  terrier,  for  the  pur- 
suit of  the  seal  is  a  marine  operation, and  concerned  with  ships 
and  icebergs  and  whaling  line.  A  sportsman,  therefore,  who 
goes  out  in  quest  of  this  valuable  pelt  should,  in  common 
regard  for  the  proprieties,  affect  Arctic  apparel ;  and,  instead 
of  ranging  with  his  gun,  should  station  himself  with  a 
harpoon  over  the  "  seal's  "  blow-hole,  and,  when  it  comes 
up  to  breathe,  take  his  chance  of  striking  it,  not  forgetting 
to  have  some  water  handy  to  pour  over  the  line  while  it  is 
being  rapidly  paid  out,  as  otherwise  it  is  very  liable  to  catch 
fire  from  friction.  By  this  means  the  rabbit  would  arrive 
at  some  intelligible  conception  of  itself,  and  be  spared  much 
of  the  discomfort  which  must  now  arise  from  doubts  as  to 
its  personality.  Nothing,  indeed,  is  so  precious  to  sen- 
tient things  as  a  conviction  of  their  own  "  identity  "  and 
their  "  individuality,"  and  I  need  only  refer  those  who 
have  any  doubt  about  it  to  the  whole  range  of  moral 
philosophy  to  assure  themselves  of  this  fact.  If  we  were 
not  certain  who  we  were  two  days  running,  much  of  the 
pleasure  of  life  would  be  lost  to, us. 

We  entered  the  arid  tract  somewhere  near  the  station  of 
the  Seven  Palms.  They  can  be  seen  growing  far  away  on 
the  left  under  the  "foot-hills."  About  half  way  through 
we  find  ourselves  at  the  station  of  Two  Palms,  but  they  are 


326  Sinners  and  Saints. 

in  tubs.  Of  course  there  may  be  others,  and  no  doubt  are. 
But  all  you  can  see  from  the  cars  is  a  limited  wilderness. 
Yet  on  those  mountains  there,  on  the  right — one  is  12,000 
feet — there  is  splendid  pine  timber  ;  and  on  the  other  side  of 
them,  incredible  as  it  seems,  are  glorious  pastures,  where  the 
cattle  are  wading  knee-deep  in  grass  !  For  us,  however, 
the  hideous  wilderness  continues.  The  hours  pass  in 
a  monotony  of  glaring  sand,  ugly  rock  fragments,  and 
occasional  bristly  cactus.  And  then  begins  a  low  chapparal 
of  "  camel-thorn  "  or  "  muskeet,"  and  as  evening  closes  in 
we  find  ourselves  at  the  Colorado  River  and  at  Yuma,  where 
the  sun  shines  from  a  cloudless  sky  three  hundred  and  ten 
days  in  the  year. 

And  the  weather  ?  I  have  not  mentioned  it  as  we  tra- 
velled along,  for  I  wished  to  emphasize  it  by  bringing  it  in 
at  the  end  of  the  chaper.  Well,  the  weather.  There  was 
none  to  speak  of,  unless  you  can  call  a  fierce  dry  over-heat, 
averaging  96°  in  the  shade,  weather.  And  this  is  all  that 
we  have  had  for  the  last  twelve  hours  or  so ;  heat  enough  to 
blister  even  a  lizard,  or  frizzle  a  salamander.  A  hot  wind, 
like  the  "  loo  "  of  the  Indian  plains,  blew  across  the  des- 
perate sands,  getting  scorched  itself  as  it  went,  and  spitefully 
passing  on  its  heat  to  us.  It  was  as  hot  as  Cawnpore  in 
June ;  nearly  as  hot  as  Aden.  And  then  the  change  at 
Yuma  !  We  had  suddenly  stepped  from  Egypt  in  August 
into  Lower  Bengal  in  September — from  a  villainous  dry 
heat  into  a  far  more  villainous  damp  one.  The  thermometer, 
though  the  sun  had  set,  was  at  92°,  and,  added  to  all,  was 
such  a  plague  of  mosquitoes  as  would  have  subdued  even 
Pharaoh  into  docility.  The  instant — literally,  the  instant — 
that  we  stepped  from  our  cars  our  necks,  hands,  and  faces 
were  attacked,  and  on  the  platform  everybody,  even  the 
half-breed  Indians  loafing  outside  the  dining-room,  were 


The  Yuma  Mosquito.  327 

hard  at  work  with  both  hands  defending  themselves  from 
the  small  miscreants.  The  effect  would  have  been  ludicrous 
enough  to  any  armour-plated  onlooker,  but  it  was  no 
laughing  matter.  We  were  too  busy  slapping  ourselves  in 
two  places  at  once  to  think  of  even  smiling  at  others 
similarly  engaged ;  and  the  last  I  remember  of  detestable 
Yuma  was  the  man  who  sells  photographs  on  the  platform, 
whirling  his  hands  with  experienced  skill  round  his  head  and 
packing  up  his  wares  by  snatches  in  between  his  whirls. 


328  Sinners  and  Saints. 


CHAPTER  XXVI. 

THROUGH   THE   COWBOYS'   COUNTRY. 

The  Santa  Cruz  Valley — The  Cactus — An  ancient  and  honourable 
Pueblo — A  terrible  Beverage— Are  Cicadas  deaf? — A  floral 
Catastrophe — The  Secretary  and  the  Peccaries. 

YUMA  marks  the  frontier  between  California  and  Arizona. 
But  it  might  just  as  well  mark  the  frontier  between  India  and 
Beluchistan,  for  it  reproduces  with  exact  fidelity  a  portion 
of  the  town  of  Rohri,  in  Sind.  A  broad,  full-streamed  river 
(the  Colorado)  seems  to  divide  the  town  into  two ;  on  the 
top  of  its  steep  bank  stands  a  military  post,  a  group  of  bun- 
galows, single-storied,  white-walled,  green-shuttered,  veran- 
dahed.  On  the  opposite  side  cluster  low,  flat-roofed  houses, 
walled  in  with  mud,  while  here  and  there  a  white-washed 
bungalow,  with  broad  projecting  eaves,  stands  in  its  own 
compound.  Brown-skinned  men  with  only  a  waistcloth 
round  the  loins  loaf  around,  and  in  the  sandy  spaces  that 
separate  the  buildings  lean  pariah  dogs  lie  about,  languid 
with  the  heat.  The  dreadful  temperature  assists  to  com- 
plete the  delusion,  and  finally  the  mosquitoes  of  the 
Colorado  river  have  all  the  ferocity  of  those  that  hatch  on 
the  banks  of  the  Indus. 

Against  our  will,  too,  these  pernicious  insects  board  our 
train  and  refuse  to  be  blown  out  again  by  all  the  draughts 
which  we  tax  our  ingenuity  to  create.  So  we  sit  up  sulkily 


The  Carlyle  of  Vegetables.  329 

in  a  cloud  of  tobacco  smoke  far  into  the  night  and 
Arizona — watching  the  wonderful  cactus-plants  passing  our 
windows  in  gaunt  procession,  and  here  and  there  seeing 
a  fire  flash  past  us,  lit  probably  by  Papajo  Indians  for  the 
preparation  of  their  abominable  "  poolke  "  liquor.  But  the 
mosquitoes  are  satisfied  at  last,  and  go  to  sleep,  and  so  we 
go  too. 

We  awake  in  the  Santa  Cruz  Valley,  with  the  prepos- 
terous cactus  poles  and  posts  standing  up  as  stiff  and  straight 
as  sentries  "at  attention,"  and  looking  as  if  they  were  doing 
it  for  a  joke.  There  is  no  unvegetable  form  that  they  will 
not  take,  for  they  mimic  the  shape  of  gate  posts,  semaphores, 
bee-hives,  and  even  mops — anything,  in  fact,  apparently  that 
falls  in  with  their  humour,  and  makes  them  look  as  unlike 
plants  as  possible.  I  am  not  sure  that  they  ought  not  to  be 
punished,  some  of  them.  Such  botanical  lawlessness  is 
deplorable.  But,  after  all,  is  not  this  America,  where  every 
cactus  "  may  do  as  he  darned  pleases  "  ?  These  cacti,  by 
the  way — the  gigantic  columnar  species,  which  throws  up 
one  solid  shaft  of  flesh,  fluted  on  each  side,  and  studded 
closely  with  rosettes  of  spines — are  the  same  that  crowd 
in  multitudinous  impis  on  the  side  of  the  hills  which  slope 
from  the  massacre- field  of  Isandula  in  Zululand,  down  to 
the  Buffalo  River.  How  well  I  remember  them ! 

If  it  were  not  for  the  cactus  it  would  be  a  miserably  un- 
interesting country,  for  the  vegetation  is  only  the  lowest  and 
poorest  looking  scrub,  and  water  as  yet  there  is  none.  But 
now  we  are  approaching  what  the  inhabitants  call  "the 
ancient  and  honourable  pueblo  of  Tucson,"  pronouncing  it 
Too  son,  and  ancient  and  honourable  we  found  it.  For 
does,  it  not  dispute  with  Santa  Fe  the  title  of  the  most 
ancient  town  in  the  United  States?  and  was  not  the 
breakfast  which  it  gave  us  worthy  of  all  honour  ? 


330  Sinners  and  Saints. 

It  takes,  reader,  as  you  will  have  guessed,  a  very 
long  journey  indeed  to  knock  into  a  traveller's  head  a 
complete  conception  of  the  size  of  North  America.  Mere 
space  could  never  do  it,  for  human  nature  is  such  that  when 
trying  to  grasp  in  the  mind  any  great  lapse  of  time  or  terri- 
tory, the  two  ends  are  brought  together  as  it  were,  and  all 
the  great  middle  is  forgotten.  Nor  does  mere  variety  of 
scene  emphasize  distance  on  the  memory,  for  the  more 
striking  details  here  and  there  crowd  out  the  large  monoto- 
nous intervals.  Thus  a  mile  of  an  Echo  canon  obliterates 
half  a*state's  length  of  Platte  Valley  pastures,  and  a  single 
patch  of  Arkansas  turtle-swamp  whole  prairies  of  Texan 
meadow.  But  in  America,  even  though  many  successive 
days  of  unbroken  travel  may  have  run  into  one,  or  its 
many  variations — from  populous  states  to  desert  ones, 
from  timber  states  to  pasture  ones,  from  corn  states  to 
mineral  ones,  from  mountain  to  valley,  river  to  lake,  can- 
yoned  hills  to  herd-supporting  prairies,  from  pine  forest  to 
oak  forest,  from  sodden  marsh  to  arid  cactus-land — may  have 
got  blurred  together,  there  grows  at  the  end  of  it  all  upon  the 
mind  a  befitting  sense  of  vastness  which  neither  linear  mea- 
surement in  miles  nor  variety  in  the  panorama  fully  explain. 
It  is  due,  I  think,  to  the  size  of  the  instalments  in  which 
America  puts  forward  her  alternations  of  scene.  She  does 
not  keep  shifting  her  suits,  so  as  to  spoil  the  effect  of  her 
really  strong  hand,  but  goes  on  leading  each  till  she  has 
established  it,  and  made  each  equally  impressive.  You  have 
a  whole  day  at  a  time  of  one  thing,  and  then  you  go  to  sleep, 
and  when  you  wake  it  is  just  the  same,  and  you  cannot  help 
saying  to  yourself  :<  Twenty-four  successive  hours  of  meadow- 
land  is  a  considerable  pasturage,"  and  you  do  not  fprget 
it  ever  afterwards.  The  next  item  is  twenty-four  hours  of 
mountains,  "  all  of  them  rich  in  metals  ; "  and  by  the  time 


An  ancient  and  honourable  Pueblo.      331 

this  has  got  indelibly  fixed  on  the  memory,  Nature  changes 
the  slide,  and  then  there  is  rolling  corn-land  on  the  screen 
for  a  day  and  night.  And  so,  in  a  series  of  majestic  al 
ternations,  the  continent  passes  in  review,  and  eventually 
all  blends  into  one  vast  comprehensible  whole. 

Apart  from  physical,  there  are  curious  ethnological  divi- 
sions which  mark  off  the  continent  into  gigantic  sub-nationali- 
ties. For  though  the  whole  is  of  course  "  American,"  there 
is  always  an  underlying  race,  a  subsidiary  one  so  to  speak, 
which  allots  the  vast  area  into  separate  compartments. 
Thus  on  the  eastern  coast  we  have  the  mulatto,  who  gives 
place  beyond  Nebraska  to  the  Indian,  and  he,  beyond  Ne- 
vada, to  the  Chinaman.  After  California  comes  the 
Mexican,  and  after  him  the  negro,  and  so  back  to  the  East 
and  the  mulatto  again. 

Here  in  Arizona,  at  Tucson,  the  "  Mexican  "  is  in  the 
ascendant,  for  such  is  the  name  which  this  wonderful  mix- 
ture of  nationalities  prefers  to  be  called  by.  He  is  really  a 
kind  of  hash,  made  up  of  all  sorts  of  brown-skinnned 
odds  and  ends,  an  olla  podrida.  But  he  calls  himself 
"  Mexican,"  and  Tucson  is  his  ancient  and  honouiable 
pueblo.  It  is  a  wretched-looking  place  from  the  train,  with 
its  slouching  hybrid  men,  and  multitudinous  pariah  dogs. 
Indians  go  about  with  the  possessive  air  of  those  who  know 
themselves  to  be  at  home ;  and  it  is  not  easy  to  decide 
whether  they,  with  their  naked  bodies  and  ropes  of  hair 
dangling  to  the  waist,  or  the  half-breed  Mexican  with  their 
villainous  slouch  and  ragged  shabbiness,  are  the  lower  race 
of  the  two.  And  the  dogs  !  they  are  legion ;  having  no 
homes,  they  are  at  home  everywhere.  I  am  told  there  is  a 
public  garden,  and  some  "  elegant "  buildings,  but  as  usual 
they  are  on  "the  other  side  of  the  town."  All  that  we  can 
see  on  this  side,  are  collections  of  squalid  Arabic-looking 


332  Sinners  and  Saints. 

huts  and  houses,  made  of  mud,  low-roofed  and  stockaded 
with  ragged-looking  fences.  The  heat  is  of  course  prodi- 
gious for  eight  months  of  the  year,  and  the  dust  and  the 
flies  and  the  mosquitoes  are  each  and  all  as  Asiatic  as  the 
heat — or  any  other  feature  of  this  ancient  and  honourable 
pueblo.  It  has  its  interest,  however,  as  an  American 
"  antiquity ;  "  while  the  river,  the  Santa  Cruz,  which  flows 
past  the  town,  is  one  of  those  Arethusa  streams,  which 
comes  to  the  surface  a  few  miles  above  the  town  and 
disappears  again  a  few  miles  below  it. 

For  the  student  of  hybrid  life,  Tucson  must  have  excep- 
tional attractions;  but  for  the  ordinary  traveller,  it  has 
positively  none.  Kawai  Indians  have  not  many  points 
very  different  from  Papajo  Indians,  and  mud  hovels  are 
after  all  only  mud  hovels.  But  it  is  an  ancient  and  honour- 
able pueblo. 

The  only  people  who  look  cool  are  the  Mexican 
soldiers  in  blue  and  white,  and  that  other  Mexican,  a 
civilian,  in  a  broad-brimmed,  flimsy  hat,  spangled  with  a 
tinsel  braid  and  fringe.  Have  these  men  ever  got  any- 
thing to  do  ?  and  when  they  have,  do  they  ever  do  it  ?  It 
seems  impossible  they  could  undertake  any  work  more 
arduous  than  lolling  against  a  post,  and  smoking  a  yellow- 
papered  cigarette.  Yet  only  a  few  days  ago  these  Mexicans, 
perhaps  those  very  soldiers  there,  destroyed  a  tribe  of 
Apaches,  and  then  arrested  a  force  of  Arizona  Rangers  who 
had  pursued  the  Indians  on  to  Mexican  ground !  These 
Apaches  had  kept  the  State  in  a  perpetual  terror  for  a  long 
time,  but  finding  the  Federal  soldiers  closing  in  upon  them, 
they  crossed  the  frontier  line  close  to  Tucson,  and  there  fell 
in  with  the  Mexicans,  who  must  at  any  rate  be  given  the 
credit  for  promptitude  and  efficiency  in  all  their  Indian 
conflicts.  The  Apaches  were  destroyed,  and  the  force  of 


A  terrible  Beverage.  333 

Rangers  who  had  followed  them  were  caught  by  the  Mexi- 
can general,  and  under  an  old  agreement  between  the  two 
Republics,  they  were  made  prisoners  of  war,  disarmed,  and 
told  to  find  their  way  back  two  hundred  and  fifty  miles  into 
the  States  as  best  and  as  quickly  as  they  could.  Some  thirty 
years  ago  a  Mexican  general,  who  captured  some  American 
filibusters  in  a  similar  way  at  the  village  of  Cavorca,  paraded 
his  captives  and  shot  them  all  down.  So  the  Arizona  men 
were  glad  enough  to  get  away. 

The  cactus  country  continues,  and  the  plants  play  the 
mountebank  more  audaciously  than  ever.  There  is  no 
absurdity  they  will  not  commit,  even  to  pretending  that  they 
are  broken  fishing  rods,  or  bundles  of  riding  whips.  But 
the  majority  stand  about  in  blunt,  kerb-stone  fashion,  as  if 
they  thought  they  were  marking  out  streets  and  squares  for 
the  cotton-tail  rabbits  that  live  amongst  them.  Under  the 
hill  on  the  left  is  the  old  mission  church  of  "  San'avere " 
(San  Xavier) ;  arid  over  those  mountains,  the  "  Whetstones," 
lies  the  mining  settlement  of  Tombstone,  where  the  cowboys 
rejoice  to  run  their  race,  and  the  value  of  life  seldom  rises  to 
par  in  the  market.  Then  we  enter  upon  a  plain  of  the 
mezcal  all  in  full  bloom,  and  a  "lodge"  of  brown  men,  partly 
Indian,  partly  Mexican,  waiting  it  may  be  for  the  plant  to 
mature  and  the  time  to  come  round  for  distilling  its  fiery 
liquor.  I  tasted  mezcal  at  El  Paso  for  the  first  time  in 
my  life,  and  I  think  I  may  venture  to  say  the  last,  so  whether 
it  was  good  of  its  kind  or  not,  I  cannot  tell.  I  am  no  judge 
of  mezcal.  But  I  know  that  it  was  thick,  of  a  dull  sherry 
colour,  with  a  nasty  vegetable  smell,  and  infinitely  more 
fiery  than  anything  I  ever  tasted  before,  not  excepting 
the  whisky  which  the  natives  in  parts  of  Central  India 
brew  from  rye,  the  brandy  which  the  Boers  of  the  Trans- 
vaal distil  from  rotten  potatoes,  or  the  "  tarantula  juice  " 


334  Sinners  and  Saints. 

which  you  are  often  offered  by  the  hearty  miners  of 
Colorado.  It  is  almost  literally  "  fire-water ; "  but  the 
red  pepper,  I  suppose,  has  as  much  to  do  with  the  effect 
upon  the  tongue  and  palate  as  the  juice  of  the  mezcal. 

On  a  sudden,  in  the  midst  of  this  desolate  iand,  we  come 
upon  a  ranche  with  cattle  wading  about  among  the  rich 
blue  grass ;  but  in  a  minute  it  is  gone,  and  lo  !  a  Chinese 
village,  smothered  in  a  tangle  of  shrubs  all  overgrown  with 
creeping  gourds,  with  the  coolies  lying  in  the  shade  smok- 
ing long  pipes  of  reed. 

Have  you  ever  smoked  Chinese  "  tobacco  "?  If  not,  be 
careful  how  you  do.  A  single  pipe  of  it  (and  Chinese  pipes 
hold  very  little)  will  upset  even  an  old  smoker.  For  myself, 
I  can  hardly  believe  it  is  tobacco,  for  in  the  hand  it  feels  of 
a  silky  texture,  utterly  unlike  any  tobacco  I  ever  saw,  while 
the  smell  of  it,  and  the  taste  on  the  tongue,  are  as  different 
to  the  buena  yerba  as  possible.  It  is  imported  by  the 
Chinese  in  America  for  their  own  consumption,  and  in  spite 
of  duties  is  exceedingly  cheap.  A  single  sniff  of  it,  by  the 
way,  completely  explains  that  heavy,  stupefying  odour  which 
hangs  about  Chinese  quarters  and  Chinese  persons. 

But  this  glimpse  of  China  has  disappeared  as  rapidly 
as  the  ranche  had  done,  and  in  a  few  minutes  later  a  col- 
lection of  low  mud-walled  huts,  overshadowed  by  rank 
vegetation,  an  ox  or  two  trying  to  chew  the  cud  in  the 
shade,  an  uptilted  cart,  some  brown-skinned  children  play- 
ing with  magnolia  blossoms,  and  lo  !  a  glimpse  of  Bengal. 

And  then  as  suddenly  we  are  out  again  on  to  the  cactus 
plains  with  cotton-tail  rabbits  everywhere,  and  cicadas 
innumerable  shrilling  from  the  muskeet  trees.  Above  all  the 
noise  of  the  train  we  could  hear  the  incessant  chorus  filling 
the  hot  out-of-doors,  and,  stepping  on  to  the  rear  platform,  I 
found  that  several  had  flown  or  been  blown  on  to  the  car. 


Are  Cicadas  deaf?  335 

Poor  helpless  creatures,  with  their  foolish  big-eyed  heads  and 
little  brown  bodies  wrapped  up  in  a  pair  of  large  transparent 
wings.  But  fancy  living  in  such  a  hideous  din  as  these 
cicadas  live  in  !  Do  naturalists  know  whether  they  are 
deaf?  One  would  suppose  of  course  that  the  voice  was 
given  them  originally  for  calling  to  each  other  in  the  desolate 
wastes  in  whicn*  they  are  sometimes  found  scattered  about. 
But  in  the  lapse  of  countless  generations  that  have  spent  their 
lives  crowded  together  in  one  bush,  sitting  often  actually 
elbow  to  elbow  and  screaming  to  each  other  at  the  tops  of 
their  voices,  it  is  hardly  less  rational  to  suppose  that  kindly 
Nature  has  encouraged  them  to  develop  a  comfortable  deaf- 
ness. At  any  rate  it  is  impossible  to  suppose  that  even  a 
cicada  can  enjoy  the  ear-splitting  clamour  in  which  its 
neighbours  indulge,  and  which  now  keeps  up  with  us  all  the 
way  as  we  traverse  the  San  Pedro  Valley,  and  mounting 
from  plateau  to  plateau — some  of  them  fine  grass  land,  others 
arid  cactus  beds — reach  another  "'  Great  Divide,"  and  then 
descend  across  an  immense,  desolate  prairie,  brightened 
here  and  there  with  beautiful  patches  of  flowers,  into  the 
San  Simon  Valley.  And  all  the  time  we  eat  our  dinner  (at 
the  Bowie  station)  the  cicadas  go  on  shrilling,  on  the  hot 
and  dusty  ground,  till  the  air  is  fairly  thrilling,  with  the  waves 
of  barren  sound.  That  sounds  like  rhyme, — and  I  do  not 
wonder  at  it, — for  even  the  cicadas  themselves  manage  to 
drift  into  a  kind  of  metre  in  their  arid  aimless  clamour,  and 
the  high  noon,  as  we  sit  on  our  cars  again,  looking  out  on 
the  pink-flowered  cactus  and  the  mezcal  with  its  shafts  of 
white  blossoms,  seems  to  throb  with  a  regular  pulsation  of 
strident  sound. 

What  a  desolate  land  it  seems,  this  New  Mexico  into 
which  we  have  crossed !  But  not  for  long.  We  soon 
find  ourselves  out  upon  a  vast  plain  of  grassland,  upon 


336  Sinners  and  Saints. 

which  the  sullen,  egotistical  cactus  will  not  grow.  "  You 
common  vegetables  may  grow  there  if  you  like,"  it  says. 
"  Any  fool  of  a  plant  can  grow  where  there  is  good  soil ; 
but  it  shows  genius  to  grow  on  no  soil  at  all."  So  it 
will  not  stir  a  step  on  to  the  grass-land,  but  stands  there 
out  on  the  barren  sun- smitten  sand,  throwing  up  its  columns 
of  juicy  green  flesh  and  bursting  out  all  over  into  flowers 
of  vivid  splendour,  just  to  show  perhaps  that  "  Todgers's 
can  do  it  when  it  likes."  There  is  about  the  cactus'  con- 
duct something  of  the  superciliousness  of  the  camel,  which 
wades  through  hay  with  its  nose  up  in  the  air  as  if  it 
scorned  the  gross  provender  of  vulgar  herds,  and  then 
nibbles  its  huge  stomach  full  of  the  tiny  tufts  of  leaves  which 
is  found  growing  among  the  topmost  thorns  of  the  scanty 
mimosa. 

Here,  on  this  plain,  is  plenty  of  the  "  camel  thorn,"  the 
muskeet,  and  a  whole  wilderness  of  Spanish  bayonet  wait- 
ing till  some  one  thinks  it  worth  while  to  turn  it  into  paper, 
and  there  is  not  probably  a  finer  fibre  in  the  world.  Nor,  be- 
cause the  cactus  contemns  the  easy  levels,  do  other  flowers 
refuse  to  grow.  They  are  here  in  exquisite  profusion,  a 
foretaste  of  the  Texan  "  flower-prairies,"  and  when  the  train 
stopped  for  water  I  got  out  and  from  a  yard  of  ground 
gathered  a  dozen  varieties.  Nearly  all  of  them  were  old 
familiar  friends  of  English  gardens,  and  some  were  beauti- 
fully scented,  notably  one  with  a  delicate  thyme  perfume, 
and  another  that  had  all  the  fragrance  of  lemon  verbena. 

Both  to  north  and  south  are  mountains  very  rich  in 
mineral  wealth,  and  at  Lordsburg,  where  we  halted,  I  could 
not  resist  the  temptation  of  buying  some  "  specimens."  I 
had  often  resisted  the  same  temptation  before,  but  here 
somehow  the  beauty  of  the  fragments  was  irresistible.  Out- 
side the  station,  by  the  way,  under  a  heap  of  rubbish,  were 


A  floral  Catastrophe.  337 

lying  a  score  or  so  of  bars  of  copper  bullion,  worth,  per- 
haps, twenty  pounds  apiece.  Such  bulky  plunder  probably 
suits  nobody  in  a  climate  of  everlasting  heat,  but  it  is  all 
pure  copper  nevertheless — pennies  en  bloc. 

The  plain  continues  in  a  monotony  of  low  muskeet  scrub, 
broken  here  and  there  by  flowering  mezcal.  It  is  utterly 
waterless,  and,  except  for  one  fortnight's  rain  which  it  re- 
ceives, gets  no  water  all  the  year  round.  Yet  beautiful 
flowers  are  in  blossom  even  now,  and  what  it  must  be  just 
after  the  rain  has  fallen  it  is  difficult  to  imagine.  To 
this  great  flower-grown  chapparal  succeeds  a  natural 
curiosity  of  a  very  striking  kind — a  vast  cemetery  of  dead 
yuccas.  It  looks  as  if  some  terrific  epidemic  had  swept  in 
a  wave  of  scorching  death  over  the  immense  savannah  of 
stately  plants.  Not  one  has  escaped.  And  there  they 
stand,  thousand  by  thousand,  mile  after  mile,  each  yucca 
in  its  place,  but  brown  and  dead.  And  so  through  the 
graveyards  of  the  dead  things  into  Deming — Deming  of 
evil  repute,  and  ill-favoured  enough  to  justify  such  a  re- 
putation. Even  the  cowboy  fresh  from  Tombstone  used  to 
call  Deming  "  a  hard  place."  and  there  is  a  dreadful  legend 
that  once  upon  a  time,  that  is  to  say,  about  ten  years  ago, 
every  man  in  the  den  had  been  a  murderer  !  No  one 
would  go  there  except  those  who  were  conscious  that  their 
lives  were  already  forfeited  to  the  law,  and  who  preferred 
the  excitement  of  death  in  a  saloon  fight  to  the  dull  forma- 
lities of  hanging.  However,  tempora  mutantur,  and  all  that 
I  remember  Deming  for  myself  is  its  appearance  of  dejection 
and  a  very  tolerable  supper. 

And  then  away  again,  across  the  same  flower-grown  mea- 
dow, with  its  sprinkling  of  muskeet  bushes,  and  its  platoons 
of  yucca,  but  now  all  radiant  in  their  bridal  bravery  of  waxen 
white.  The  death-line  of  the  beautiful  plant  seems  to  have 

z 


338  Sinners  and  Saints. 

been  mysteriously  drawn  at  Deming.  I  got  out  at  a  stop- 
page and  cut  two  more  of  the  yuccas.  The  temptation  to 
possess  such  splendour  of  blossom  was  too  great  to  resist. 
But  alas  !  as  before,  the  dainty  thing  in  its  virginal  white  was 
hideous  with  clinging  parasites,  and  so  I  fastened  them  into 
the  brake-wheel  on  the  platform,  and  sitting  in  my  car 
smoking,  could  look  out  at  the  great  mass  of  silver  bells 
that  thus  completely  filled  the  doorway,  and  in  the  falling 
twilight  they  grew  quite  ghostly,  the  spectres  of  dead  flowers, 
and  touching  them  we  find  the  flowers  all  clammy  and  cold. 
"  How  it  chills  one  ! "  said  a  girl,  holding  a  thick,  white,  damp 
petal  between  her  fingers.  "  It  feels  like  a  dead  thing." 

And  sitting  out  in  the  moonlight — an  exquisite  change  after 
the  hateful  heat  of  the  day  thfit  was  past — we  saw  the  muskeet 
growth  gradually  dwindle  away,  and  then  great  lengths  of 
wind-swept  sand-dunes  supervened.  And  every  now  and 
then  a  monstrous  owl — the  "  great  grey  owl  of  California," 
I  think  it  must  have  been — tumbled  up  off  the  ground  and 
into  the  sky  above  us.  Otherwise  the  desolation  was  utter. 
But  I  sat  on  smoking  into  the  night;  and  was  abundantly 
repaid  after  awhile,  for  the  country,  as  if  weary  of  its  mono- 
tony, suddenly  swells  up  into  billows  and  sinks  into  huge 
troughs,  a  land-Atlantic  that  beats  upon  the  rocks  of  the 
Colorado  range  to  right  and  left ;  and  as  we  cut  our  way 
through  the  crests  of  its  waves,  the  land  broke  away  from 
before  us  into  bay-like  recesses,  crowned  with  galleries  of 
pinnacled  rock  and  curved  round  into  great  amphitheatres 
of  cliff.  But  away  on  the  left  it  seemed  heaving  with  a 
more  prodigious  swell,  and  every  now  and  then  down  in  the 
hollows  I  thought  I  could  catch  glimpses  of  moon-lit 
water  glittering.  And  the  train  sped  on,  winding  in  and 
out  of  the  upper  ridges  of  the  valley  brim,  and  then,  de- 
scending, plunged  into  a  dense  growth  of  willows,  and  lo ! 


The  Secretary  and  the  Peccaries.         339 

the  Rio  Grande,  and  "  the  shining  levels  of  the  mere."  It  was 
//  then,  this  splendid  stream,  that  had  been  disturbing  the 
land  so,  thrusting  the  valley  this  way  and  that,  shaping  the 
hills  to  its  pleasure,  and  that  now  rolled  its  flood  along  the 
stately  water-way  which  it  had  made,  with  groves  of  trees 
for  reed  beds  and  a  mountain  range  for  banks  ! 

We  cross  it  soon,  seeing  the  Santa  Fe  line  pass  under- 
neath us  with  the  river  flowing  underneath  it  again — and  then 
with  the  Rio  Grande  gradually  curving  away  from  us,  we 
reach  El  Paso.  And  it  is  well  perhaps  for  El  Paso,  that 
we  see  it  under  the  gracious  witchery -of  moonlight,  for  it  is 
a  place  to  flee  from.  Without  one  of  the  merits  of  Asia,  it 
has  all  Asia's  plagues  of  heat  and  insects  and  dust.  And 
no  one  plants  trees  or  sows  crops ;  and  so,  sun-smitten,  and 
waterless,  it  lies  there  blistering,  with  all  its  population  of 
half-breeds  and  pariah  dogs,  a  place,  as  I  said,  to  flee  from. 
And  yet  on  the  other  side  of  the  river,  a  rifle-shot  off,  is  the 
Mexican  town  of  El  Paso — for  the  river  here  separates 
the  States  from  their  neighbour  Republic — and  there,  there 
are  shade  trees  and  pleasant  houses,  well-ordered  streets,  and 
all  the  adjuncts  of  a  superior  civilization. 

A  brawl  alongside  the  station  platform,  with  a  horrible 
admixture  of  polyglot  oaths  and  the  flash  of  knives,  is  the 
only  incident  of  El  Paso  life  we  travellers  had  experience 
of.  But  it  may  be  characteristic. 

One  of  the  party  who  had  been  incidentally  concerned  in 
the  disagreement  travelled  with  us.    He  knew  both  New  and 
Old  Mexico  well,  and  among  other  things  which  he  told  me 
I  remember  that  he  said  that  he  had  seen  peccaries  in  New 
Mexico,  on  the  borders  of  Arizona.     I    had   thought'  till 
then  that  this   very  disagreeable  member  of  the  pig  family 
confined  itself  to  more  southern  regions. 
Treed  by  pigs  is  not  exactly  the  position  in  which  we  should 
z  2 


34O  Sinners  and  Saints. 

expect  to  find  a  Colonial  Secretary — at  least,  not  often.  But 
when  one  of  the  Secretaries  in  Honduras  was  recently  exploring 
the  interior  of  the  country,  he  was  overtaken  by  a  drove  of 
peccaries,  and  had  only  time  to  take  a  snap  shot  at  the  first 
of  them  and  scramble  up  a  tree,  dropping  his  rifle  in  the  per- 
formance, before  the  whole  pack  were  round  his  perch, 
gnashing  their  teeth  at  him,  grunting,  and  sharpening  their 
tusks  against  his  tree.  Now  the  peccary  is  not  only  fero- 
cious but  patient,  and  rather  than  let  a  meal  escape  it,  it 
will  wait  about  for  days,  so  that  the  Secretary  had  only  two 
courses — either  to  remain  where  he  was  till  he  dropped 
down  among  the  swine  from  sheer  exhaustion  and  hunger, 
or  else  to  commit  suicide  at  once  by  coming  down  to  be 
killed  there  and  then.  While  he  was  in  this  dilemma, 
however,  what  should  come  along— and  looking  out 
for  supper  too — but  a  jaguar.  Never  was  beast  of  prey 
so  opportune !  For  the  jaguar  has  a  particular  fondness 
for  wild  pork,  and  the  peccaries  know  it,  for  no  sooner 
did  they  see  the  great  ruddy  head  thrust  out  through  the 
bushes  than  they  bolted  helter-skelter,  forgetting,  in  their 
anxiety  to  save  their  own  bacon,  the  meal  they  were  them- 
selves leaving  up  the  tree.  The  jaguar  was  off  after  the 
swine  with  admirable  promptitude,  and  the  Secretary,  finding 
the  coast  clear,  came  down — reflecting,  as  he  walked  to- 
wards the  camp,  upon  the  admirable  arrangements  of  Nature, 
who,  having  made  peccaries  to  eat  Colonial  Secretaries, 
provided  also  jaguars  to  eat  the  peccaries. 

And  so  to  sleep,  and  sleeping,  over  the  boundary  into 
Texas. 


CHAPTER  XXVII. 

American  negiecc  of  natural  history — Prairie-dogs  again  ;  their  courtesy 
and  colouring — Their  indifference  to  science — A  hard  crowd — 
Chuckers  out — Makeshift  Colorado. 

"HAVE  we  struck  another  city?"  I  asked  on  awaking,  and 
finding  the  train  at  a  standstill. 

"  No,  sir,"  said  the  conductor,  "  only  a  water-tank." 
"  You  see,"   I  explained,  "  there   are  so  many  '  cities  ' 
.on   the  Railway  Companies'  maps  that  one  hardly  dares 
to  turn  one's  head  from  the  window,  lest  one  should  let  slip 
a  few — so  I  thought  it  best  to  ask." 

No,  it  didn't  look  like  a  country  of  many  cities.  It  was 
Texas.  And  the  grazing  land  stretched  on  either  side  of  us 
to  the  horizon,  without  even  a  cow  to  break  the  dead  level 
of  the  surface.  It  was  patched,  however,  with  wildflowers. 
Yellow  verbena  and  purple  grew  in  acres  together.  And 
then  the  breakfasting  station  suddenly  overtook  us.  It  was 
called  Coya,  and  we  ate  refuse.  When  we  complained,  the 
man  and  his  wife — knock-kneed  folk — deplored  almost  with 
tears  their  distance  from  any  food  supply,  and  vowed  they 
had  done  their  best.  And  while  they  vowed,  we  starved  on 
damaged  tomatoes ;  and  on  paying  the  man  I  gave  him  advice 
to  go  and  buy  some  potter's  field  with  the  proceeds,  and  to 
act  accordingly. 


342  Sinners  and  Saints. 

What  I  hate  about  being  starved  is,  that  you  can't  smoke 
afterwards.  The  best  part  of  a  good  meal  is  the  pipe  after- 
wards, and  the  more  ample  the  meal  the  better  the  subsequent 
weed.  But  on  a  pint  of  bad  tomatoes  no  man  can  smoke 
with  comfort  to  his  stomach.  But  I  ate  bananas  till  I 
thought  I  had  qualified  for  tobacco,  and  with  my  pipe  came 
more  kindly  thoughts.  Outside  the  cars  the  country  was 
doing  all  it  could  to  soothe  me,  for  the  meadows  were  fairly 
ablaze  with  flowers.  They  were  in  distracting  profusion 
and  of  beautiful  kinds.  I  knew  most  of  them  as  garden 
and  hothouse  flowers  in  England,  but  not  their  names ; 
the  verbenas,  however,  were  unmistakable,  and  so  was  the 
"painted  daisy."  It  suffices,  however,  that  the  country 
seemed  a  wild  garden  as  far  as  the  eye  could  reach, 
yellow  and  orange  being  as  usual  the  prevailing 
colours. 

This  determination  of  wild  flowers  to  these  colours  is  a 
point  worth  the  notice  of  science.  And  why  are  the  very 
great  majority  of  Spring  flowers  yellow  ? 

One  of  my  companions  called  this  distraction  of  colour 
a  "  weed-prairie,"  which  reminds  me  to  say  that  it  is  per- 
fectly amazing  how  indifferent  the  present  generation  of 
Western  Americans  are  to  the  natural  history  of  their 
country.  They  cannot  easily  mistake  a  crow  or  a  rose.  But 
all  other  birds,  except  "snipe"  and  "prairie  chickens," 
seem  to  be  divided  into  "  robins,"  and  "  sparrows ; "  and 
all  flowers,  except  the  sunflower  and  the  violet,  into  lilies 
and  primroses.  They  have  not  had  time  yet,  they  say,  to 
notice  the  weeds  and  bugs  that  are  about.  But,  in  the 
meantime,  a  most  appalling  confusion  of  nomenclature  is 
taking  root.  As  with  eatables  and  other  things,  the  emi- 
grants to  the  States  have  taken  with  them  from  Europe 
the  names  of  the  most  familiar  flowers  and  birds,  and  any- 


Cities  of  Prairie-dogs.  343 

thing  that  takes  their  fancy  is  at  once  christened  with  their 
names. 

As  the  sun  rose  the  population  of  these  painted  mea- 
dows came  abroad,  multitudes  of  rabbits,  a  few  "  chapparal 
hens,"  and  myriads — literally  myriads — of  brilliant  butter- 
flies. 

And  so  on  for  a  hundred  miles.  And  then  Texas  gets  a 
little  tired  of  so  much  level  land  and  begins  to  undulate. 
Dry  river-beds  are  passed,  and  then  a  muskeet  "chapparal" 
commences,  and  with  it  a  prodigious  city  of  prairie-dogs. 
But  the  inhabitants  are  partially  civilized.  The  train  does 
not  alarm  them  in  the  least.  It  does  not  even  arouse  their 
curiosity.  They  sit  a  few  feet  off  the  rails,  with  their  backs 
to  the  passing  trains.  Perhaps  they  may  look  over  their 
shoulders  at  it.  But  they  do  not  interrupt  their  gambols 
nor  their  work  for  such  a  trifle  as  a  train.  They  eat  and 
squabble  and  flirt — do  anything,  in  fact,  but  run  away. 
Now  and  then,  as  if  out  of  good  taste  and  not  to  appear  too 
affected,  they  make  a  show  of  moving  a  little  out  of  the 
way.  But  the  motive  is  so  transparent  that  the  trivial 
change  of  position  counts  for  nothing.  The  jack-rabbit 
imitates  the  prairie-dog,  just  as  the  Indian  imitates  the 
white  man,  and  pretends  that  it  too  does  not  care  about 
the  train.  But  there  is  an  expression  on  its  ears  that 
betrays  its  nervousness;  and  why,  too,  does  it  always 
manage  to  get  under  the  shady  side  of  the  nearest  bush  ? 

One  thing  more  about  the  prairie-dog,  and  I  have 
done  with  him.  The  soil  east  of  Colorado  city  changes 
for  a  while  in  colour,  being  reddish.  Before  this  it  had 
been  sandy.  And  the  prairie-dog  alters  its  colour  to 
suit  its  soil.  You  might  say  of  course  that  the  dust  round 
its  burrows  tinged  its  fur,  just  as  dust  will  tinge  any- 
thing it  settles  on.  But  it  is  a  fact  that  the  fur  itself  is 


344  Sinners  and  Saints 

redder  where  the  soil  is  redder,  and  that  in  the  two  tracts 
the  little  animal  assimilates  itself  to  the  ground  it  sits 
upon.  And  the  advantage  is  obvious.  Dozens  of  prairie- 
dogs  sitting  motionless  on  the  soil  harmonized  so  exactly 
with  their  surroundings  that  for  a  time  I  did  not  observe 
them.  Detecting  one  I  soon  learned  to  detect  all.  Now 
one*  of  the  grey  prairie  dogs  on  the  red  soil  would  have 
been  very  conspicuous,  just  as  conspicuous  in  fact  as  a  red 
one  would  have  been  trying  to  pass  unobserved  on  the 
lighter  soil. 

The  undulations  now  increase  into  valleys,  and  splendid 
they  are,  with  their  rich  crops  of  wild  hay  and  abundant 
life.  The  train  stops  at  a  "  station  "  (I  am  not  sure  that  it 
has  earned  a  name  yet),  and  some  cowboys,  and  dreadful  of 
their  kind,  get  on  to  the  train.  But  it  is  only  for  an  hour  or 
so.  But  during  that  hour  the  prairie-dogs  had  much  excite- 
ment given  them  by  the  perpetual  discharging  of  revolvers 
into  the  middle  of  their  family  parties.  It  is  impossible  to 
say  whether  any  of  them  were  hit,  for  the  prairie-dog 
tumbles  into  his  hole  with  equal  rapidity,  whether  he  is  alive 
or  dead.  But  I  hope,  they  escaped.  For  I  have  a  great 
tenderness  for  all  the  small  ministers  of  Nature,  in  fur  and 
in  feathers. 

"  Their  task  in  silence  perfecting, 

Still  working,  blaming  still  our  vain  turmoil, 
Labours  that  shall  not  fail,  when  man  is  gone." 

And  yet  I  would  be  reluctant  to  say  that  their  in  difference 
to  express  trains  'should  be  encouraged.  I  don't  like  to 
see  prairie-dogs  thus  regardless  of  the  latest  triumphs  of 
science.  And  so  if  the  cowboys'  revolvers  frightened 
them  a  little,  let  it  pass. 

The  train  stopped  again  at  another  "  station,"  and  our  cow- 


A  hard  Crowd"  345 


boy  passengers  got  out,  being  greeted  by  two  evil-look- 
ing vagabonds  lying  in  the  shade  of  a  shrub.  .  The  meeting 
of  these  worthies  looked  unmistakably  like  that  of  thieves 
re-assembling  after  some  criminal  expedition.  All  alike 
seemed  eager  to  converse,  but  they  evidently  had  to  wait 
till  the  train  was  gone.  One  man  had  a  bundle  which  he 
held  very  tight  (so  it  seemed  to  us)  between  his  legs.  •  A 
few  muttered  sentences  were  exchanged,  the  speakers  turn- 
ing their  heads  away  from  the  train  while  they  talked,  and 
the  rest  assuming  a  most  ludicrous  affectation  of  indifference 
to  what  was  being  said.  We  started  off,  and  looking  out  at 
them  from  the  rear  platform  of  the  car,  I  saw  they  were 
already  in  full  talk.  Their  animated  gestures  were  almost 
as  significant  as  words.  Had  I  referred  to  the  conductor 
I  might  have  saved  myself  all  conjecture.  For  mentioning 
my  suspicions  to  him,  he  said,  "  Oh,  yes  !  Those  Rangers 
who  got  off  at  Coya  are  after  that  crowd  :  and  they're  a  hard 
crowd  too." 

They  were,  without  doubt,  a  terribly  "  hard  crowd "  to 
look  at,  these  cowboy-men.  In  England  they  would  pro- 
bably have  followed  "  chucking  out  "  as  a  profession.  I  re- 
member in  a  police  court,  during  election  time,  seeing  some 
hulking  victims  of  the  police  charged  with  "  noting."  But 
they  pleaded,  in  justification  of  turbulence,  that  they  were 
"  chuckers  out  of  meetings  !  "  They  had  been  captured  when 
expelling  the  supporters  of  a  rival  candidate  from  a  public 
hall  with  the  fag  ends  of  furniture,  and  made  no  attempt  at 
concealment  of  their  misdemeanour.  They  were  paid,  they 
said,  to  chuck  out,  and  chucked  out  accordingly,  to  the  best 
of  their  intelligence  and  ability,  and  when  overpowered  by  the 
police  attempted  no  subterfuge.  Their  stock-in-trade  were 
broad  shoulders  and  prodigious  muscle.  For  any  odd  job 
of  fancy  work  they  would'perhaps  provide  themselves  with  a 


346  Sinners  and  Saints. 

few  old  eggs  or  put  a  dead  cat  or  two  into  their  pockets. 
But,  as  a  rule,  when  they  went  out  to  business  they  took  only 
their  fists  and  their  hob-nailed  boots  with  them,  relying 
upon  the  meeting  room  to  provide  them  with  table  legs  and 
chairs.  As  soon  as  the  signal  for  the  disturbance  was  given, 
the  chuckers-out  "went  for"  the  furniture,  and,  armed  with 
a  convenient  fragment,  looked  about  for  people  whom  they 
ought  to  chuck.  There  were  plenty  to  choose  from,  for  a 
meeting  consists,  as  a  rule,  of  several  or  more  persons,  and 
the  chuckers-out  having  marked  down  a  knot  of  the  enemy, 
would  proceed  to  eject  them,  individually  if  refractory,  in  a 
body  if  docile,  and  would  thus,  if  unopposed  by  police, 
gradually  empty  the  room.  There  is  something  very 
humorous  in  this  method  of  invalidating  an  obnoxious 
orator's  arguments,  for  nothing  weakens  the  force  of  a 
speech  so  much  as  the  total  absence  of  the  audience. 
Nevertheless,  the  chucker-out  sees  no  humour  in  his  job. 
It  is  all  serious  business  to  him,  and  so  he  goes  through  his 
chucking  with  uncompromising  severity.  Now  and  then, 
perhaps,  he  expels  the  wrong  man,  or  visits  the  political 
offences  of  an  enemy  upon  the  innocent  head  of  one  of 
his  own  party ;  but  in  political  discussions  with  the  legs 
of  tables  and  brickbats,  such  mistakes  can  hardly  help 
occurring. 

And  the  beautiful  undulating  meadows  continue,  sprinkled 
over  with  shrub-like  trees,  and  populous  with  rabbits  and 
prairie-dogs  and  chapparal  hens.  Here  and  there  we  come 
upon  small  companies  of  cattle  and  horses,  most  contented 
with  their  pastures ;  but  what  an  utter  desolation  this  vast 
tract  seems  to  be  !  The  "  stations  "  are,  as  yet,  mere  single 
houses,  and  we  hardly  see  a  human  being  in  an  hour. 
And  then  comes  Colorado,  a  queer  makeshift-looking  town, 


The  Train  guarded.  347 

with  apparently  only  one  permanent  place  of  habitation  in 
it— the  jail. 

Beyond  the  town  we  passed  some  Mexicans  supposed  to 
be  working,  but  apparently  passing  time  by  pelting  stones 
at  the  snakes  in  the  water,  and  soon  after  stopped  to  take 
up  some  Texan  Rangers  for  the  protection  of  our  train 
during  the  night.  These  Rangers  reminded  me  very  much 
of  a  Boer  patrol,  and  there  is  no  doubt  that  both  cowboys 
and  Indians  find  them  far  too  efficient  for  comfort. 
They  are,  as  a  rule,  good  shots,  and  all  are  of  course  good 
riders.  The  pay  is  good,  and,  "  for  a  spell "  as  one  of  them 
said,  the  work  was  "well  enough."  And  as  the  evening 
closed  in,  and  we  began  to  enter  a  country  of  dark  jungle- 
looking  land,  the  scene  seemed  as  appropriate  as  possible 
for  a  Texan  adventure.  But  nothing  more  exciting  than 
cicadas  disturbed  our  sleep.  Somebody  said  they  were 
"  katydids,"  but  they  were  not — they  were  much  katydider. 


Sinners  and  Saints. 


CHAPTER  XXVIII. 

Nature's  holiday — Through  wonderful  country — Brown  negroes  a  libel 
on  mankind — The  wild -flower  state — The  black  problem — A  pie- 
bald flirt — The  hippopotamus  and  the  flea — A  narrow  escape — The 
home  of  the  swamp-gobblin — Is  the  moon  a  fraud  ? 

IN  the  morning  everything  had  changed.  Vegetation  was 
tropical.  Black  men  had  supplanted  brown.  Occasional 
tracts  of  rich  meadow,  with  splendid  cattle  and  large- 
framed  horses  wading  about  among  the  pasture,  alternated 
with  brakes  of  luxuriant  foliage  concealing  the  streams 
that  flowed  through  them,  while  fields  of  cotton  in  lusty 
leaf,  gigantic  maize,  and  league  after  league  of  corn  stubble, 
showed  how  fertile  the  negro  found  his  land.  And  the 
wild  flowers — but  what  can  I  say  more  about  them  ?  They 
seemed  even  more  beautiful  than  before. 

There  is  something  very  striking  and  suggestive  in  these 
impressive  efforts  of  Nature  to  command,  at  recurring 
intervals,  a  recurring  homage.  Thus,  for  one  interval  of  the 
year  the  rhododendron  holds  an  undivided  empire  over  the 
densely-wooded  slopes  of  the  great  Himalayan  mountains 
in  India,  All  the  other  beauties  of  mountain  and  valley 
are  forgotten  for  that  interval  of  lovely  despotism,  and  every 
one  who  can,  goes  up  to  see  "  the  rhododendrons  in  bloom." 
Nature  is  very  fond  of  such  "  tours  de  force,"  thinking,  it 
may  be,  that  men  who  see  her  every-day  marvels  and  grow 


Through  wonderful  Country.          349 

accustomed  to  them  require  now  and  then  some  extra- 
ordinary display,  like  the  special  festivals  of  the  ancient 
Church,  to  evoke  periodically  an  extraordinary  homage. 
Lest  the  migration  of  creatures  should  cease  to  be  a  thing 
of  wonder  to  us,  Nature  organizes  once  in  a  way  a  monster 
excursion,  sometimes  of  rats,  sometimes  of  deer,  but  most 
frequently  of  birds,  to  remind  man  of  the  marvellous  in- 
stinct that  draws  the  animal  world  from  place  to  place  or 
from  zone  to  zone.  For  the  same  reason,  perchance,  she 
ever  and  again  drives  butterflies  in  clouds  from  off  the 
land  out  on  to  the  open  sea,  and,  that  the  perpetual  miracle 
of  Spring  may  not  pall  upon  us,  she  gives  the  world  in 
succession  such  breadths  and  tones  of  colour  that  even  the 
callous  stop  to  admire  the  sudden  gold  of  the  meadows,  the 
hawthorn  lying  like  snowdrifts  along  the  country,  the  bridal 
attire  of  the  chestnuts,  or  the  blue  levels  of  wild  hyacinth. 
As  the  priestess  of  a  prodigious  cult,  Nature  decrees  at 
regular  intervals,  for  the  delight  and  discipline  of  humanity, 
a  public  festa,  or  universal  holiday,  to  which  the  whole 
world  may  go  free,  and  wonder  at  the  profusion  of  her 
beauties. 

The  track  was,  in  places,  very  poor  indeed,  the  cars 
jumping  so  much  as  to  make  travelling  detestable  and 
travellers  "sea-sick."  And  then  Dallas,  with  an  execrable 
breakfast,  and  away  again  into  the  wonderful  country,  with 
cattle  perpetually  wandering  on  to  the  track  and  refusing  to 
hear  the  warning  shriek  of  the  engine.  The  country  was 
richly  timbered  with  oak  and  willow  and  walnut,  with  park- 
like  tracts  intervening  of  undulating  grassland.  Here  the 
stock  wandered  about  in  herds  as  they  chose,  and  except 
for  a  chance  tent,  or  a  shanty  knocked  together  with  old 
packing-cases  and  canvas,  there  was  no  sign  of  human 
population.  But  in  the  timbered  country  every  clearing  had 


350  Sinners  and  Saints. 

the  commencement  of  a  settlement,  the  tumble-down 
rickety  habitation  with,  which  the  African,  if  left  to  his 
own  inclinations,  is  content.  And  wonderfully  picturesque 
they  looked,  too,  these  efforts  at  colonization  in  the  middle 
of  the  forests,  with  the  creepers  swinging  branches  of  scarlet 
blossoms  from  the  trees,  and  the  foliage  of  the  plantains, 
maize  and  sugar-cane  brightening  the  sombre  forest  depths. 
But  the  heat  must  be  prodigious,  and  so  must  the  mos- 
quitoes. 

It  was  Sunday,  and  after  their  kind  the  children  of  Ham 
were  taking  "  rest."  Parties  of  negresses  all  dressed  in  the 
whitest  of  white,  with  bright-coloured  handkerchiefs  on  theii 
heads,  or  hats  trimmed  with  gaudy  ribands  and  flowers, 
and  sometimes  wearing,  believe  me,  gloves,  were  pro- 
menading in  the  jungle  with  their  hulking,  insolent- 
mannered  beaux.  They  looked  like  gorillas  masquerading. 
In  his  native  country  I  sincerely  like  the  negro.  But 
here  in  America  I  regret  to  find  him  unlovely.  I  am 
told  that  individual  negroes  have  done  wonders.  I  know 
they  have.  But  this  does  not  alter  my  prejudice.  I  think 
the  brownish  American  negro  of  to-day  is  the  most  de- 
plorable libel  on  the  human  race  that  I  have  ever  encoun- 
tered. And  I  cannot  help  fearing  that  America  has  a 
serious  problem  growing  into  existence  in  the  South.  The 
brown-black  population  is  there  formulating  for  itself,  apart 
from  white  supervision,  ideas  of  self-government,  morality, 
"  independence,"  and  even  religion,  that  may  make  any 
future  intervention  of  a  better  class  a  difficult  matter,  or 
may  eventuate  in  the  contemporary  growth  of  two  sharply- 
defined  castes  of  society.  I  find  the  opinion  universally 
entertained  in  America  that  the  brownish-black  man  is  not 
a  sound  or  creditable  basis  for  a  community,  and  now  that 
I  have  seen  in  what  numbers  and  what  prosperity  he  has 


The  wild-flower  State.  351 

established  himself  in  the  South,  I  cannot  but  think  that  he 
may  be  found  in  the  future  an  awkward  factor  in  the  body 
politic  and  social. 

The  country  in  fact  appears  to  be  breeding  helots  as  fast 
as  it  can  for  the  perplexity  of  the  next  generation. 

To  the  north  of  us  as  we  travelled  was  a  large  Indian 
reservation,  and  at  more  than  one  station  I  saw  them 
crouching  about  the  building.  But  I  should  not  have 
mentioned  them  had  it  not  been  that  I  saw  a  white  man 
trying  to  buy  a  cradle  from  a  squaw.  He  offered  $20 
for  it,  but  she  would  not  even  turn  her  head  to  look  at  the 
money.  It  is  quite  possible  that  the  mother  thought  he  was 
bargaining  for  the  papoose  as  well  as  the  cradle.  But  I  was 
assured  that  these  women  sometimes  expend  an  incredible 
amount  of  labour  and  indeed  (for  Indians)  of  money  also 
upon  their  papoose-panniers.  One  case  was  vouched  for 
of  an  offer  of  $120  being  refused,  the  Indians  stating  that 
there  were  $80  worth  of  beads  upon  the  work  of  art,  and 
that  it  had  taken  eleven  years  to  complete. 

How  beautiful  Texas  is  !  And  what  a  future  it  has  !  For 
half  a  day  and  a  night  we  have  been  traversing  grazing-land, 
and  for  half  a  day  fine  timber  growing  in  a  soil  of  intense 
fertility.  And  now  for  half  a  day  we  are  in  a  pine  country, 
sometimes  with  wide  levels  of  turf  spreading  out  among  the 
trees,  sometimes  with  oak  and  walnut  so  thickly  inter- 
mingled with  the  pines  that  the  whole  forms  a  magnificent 
forest.  Passion-flowers  entangle  all  the  lower  undergrowth, 
and  up  the  dead  trees  climbs  that  fine  scarlet  creeper 
which  is  such  an  ornament  of  well-ordered  gardens  of  some 
English  country  houses.  But  here  in  Texas  the  people,  as 
usual,  have  not  had  time  yet  to  think  of  adornments,  and 
their  ugly  shanties  therefore  remain  bare  and  wooden. 
They  are  of  course  only  ugly  in  themselves,  that  is  to 


35 2  Sinners  and  Saints. 

say,  in  material,  shape,  and  condition,  for  their  surroundings 
are  delightful  and  location  perfect.  There  is  of  course 
a  good  deal  of  "  the  poetry  of  malaria,"  as  I  heard  a  charm- 
ing lady  say,  about  some  of  these  sites.  For  it  is  impossible 
to  avoid  the  suspicion  of  agues  and  fevers  in  those  splendid 
clearings,  with  the  rich  foliage  mobbing  each  patch  of 
cotton,  grapes,  or  maize. 

Whenever  we  happen  to  slacken  pace  near  one  of  them 
an  interesting  glimpse  of  local  life  is  caught.  Negroidal 
women  come  to  the  doors  or  suddenly  stand  up  in  the 
middle  of  the  crops  in  which,  working,  they  were  unper- 
ceived.  From  the  undergrowth,  the  ditches,  and  from 
behind  fences,  appear  dusky  children,  numbers  of  them,  a 
swart  infantry  that  seems  to  me  to  fill  the  future  with 
perplexity.  Are  these  swarms  going  to  grow  up  a  credit 
to  the  country  ?  Have  they  it  in  their  breed  to  be  fit  com- 
panions in  progress  of  the  progeny  of  the  best  European 
stocks  ? 

The  abundance  of  wild  life,  too,  is  very  noticeable. 
Wherever  we  stop  we  become  aware  of  countless  butterflies 
and  insects  busy  among  the  foliage,  and  the  voices  of 
strange  birds  resound  from  the  forest  depths. 

But  other  sites  appear  to  me  perfection.  Take  Marshall 
for  instance,  or  Jefferson.  Which  is  the  more  beautiful  of 
the  two  ?  Some  of  the  "  commercial  "  settlements,  just 
beginning  life  with  a  railway- station,  six  drug  stores,  and 
seven  saloons,  have  situations  that  ought  to  have  been  re- 
served for  honeymoon  Edens.  They  are  "  hard  "  places. 
Law  as  yet  there  is  none  except  revolver  law,  and  that  is 
pitiless  and  sudden  and  wicked.  For  Texas,  the  beautiful 
flower  state,  blessed  with  turf  and  blessed  with  pines,  has 
still  the  stern  commencements  of  American  life  before  it — 
that  rapid,  fierce  process  of  civilization  which  begins 


A  memorable  Negress.  353 

with  cards  and  whisky  and  murder,  which  finds  its  first 
protection  in  the  "  Vigilantes "  who  hold  their  grim  tri- 
bunals under  the  roadside  trees,  but  which  suddenly  one 
day  wrenches  itself,  as  it  were,  from  its  bad,  lawless  past, 
and  takes  its  first  firm  step  on  the  high  road  to  order  and 
prosperity  and  the  world's  respect.  For  every  intelligent 
traveller  these  ragged,  half-savage,  settlements  should  have 
a  great  significance  and  interest.  Before  he  dies  they  may 
be  Chicagos  or  San  Franciscos.  And  these  men,  with 
their  mouths  full  of  oaths  and  revolvers  on  their  hips, 
are  the  fathers  of  those  future  cities.  They  will  have  no  im- 
mortality though  in  the  gratitude  of  posterity.  For  they  will 
shoot  each  other  off  in  those  saloons,  or  the  Rangers  will 
shoot  them  down  on  the  flower  prairies  beyond  the  forests. 
But  they  will  have  done  their  work  nevertheless.  Nature  in 
every  part  of  her  scheme  proceeds  on  the  same  system  of 
building  foundations  upon  ruins.  Whole  nations  have  to 
be  killed  off  when  they  have  prepared  and  preserved  the 
ground  as  it  were  for  those  that  are  to  follow.  Whether 
they  are  nations  of  men,  or  of  beasts,  or  of  plants,  she  uses 
them  in  exactly  the  same  way.  Everything  must  subserve 
the  ultimate  end. 

But  I  did  not  intend  to  moralize.  The  negress  waiter  at 
Longview  (where  we  dine  very  badly)  reminds  me  how 
practical  life  should  be.  She  never  stops  to  moralize.  On 
the  contrary,  she  just  stands  by  the  window,  swallowing  all 
the  peaches  and  fragments  of  pudding  that  the  travellers 
leave  on  their  plates.  Two  he  negroes  wait  upon  us.  But 
it  looks  as  if  they  were  there  to  feed  the  negress  rather  than 
to  feed  us.  For  they  keep  rushing  in  with  full  dishes  to  us 
and  rushing  off  with  the  half  empty  ones  to  her.  And  there 
she  stands  omnivorous,  insatiable,  black.  Everything  that 
is  brought  to  her  of  a  sweet  kind  she  swallows.  Not  as  if 

A  a 


354  Sinners  and  Saints. 

she  enjoyed  it,  but  as  if  she  must.  It  was  like  throwing 
things  into  a  sink.  She  never  filled  up. 

And  then,  through  the  splendid  tropical  country,  to  Mar- 
shall. I  must  return  to  Marshall,  Texas,  some  day  and  be 
disillusioned,  or  else  I  shall  go  down  to  my  grave  accusing  my- 
self of  having  passed  Paradise  in  the  train,  and  not  "  stopped 
off"  there.  What  an  exasperating  reflection  for  a  death- 
bed !  I  should  never  forgive  myself.  But  perhaps  it  is 
not  so  beautiful  as  it  seems.  In  any  case  studies  "  from 
the  life  "  would  be  immensely  interesting.  I  caught  a  few 
glimpses  which  entertained  me  prodigiously.  There  was  the 
negro  dandy  walking  painfully  in  patent-leather  boots  that 
were  made  for  some  man  with  ordinary  feet,  with  a  fan  in  his 
hand  and  a  large  flower  in  his  button-hole,  an  old  stove-pipe 
hat  on  his  head,  and  a  very  corpulent  handleless  umbrella 
under  his  arm.  There  was  another,  similarly  caparisoned, 
escorting  three  belles  for  a  walk  in  the  neighbouring  jungle, 
the  ladies  all  wearing  white  cloth  gloves  and  black  cloth 
boots  that  squelched  out  spaciously  as  they  put  their  feet 
down.  And  alas  !  there  was  the  black  coquette,  with  her 
bunch  of  crimson  flowers  behind  her  ear,  her  black  satin 
skirt  and  white  muslin  jacket,  her  parasol  of  black  satin 
lined  with  crimson — and  how  she  flirts  up  the  green 
slope,  with  a  half-acre  smile  on  her  face  !  She  looks  back 
at  every  other  step  to  see  which,  if  any,  of  the  black  men,  or 
the  brown,  or  the  yellow,  on  the  station  platform  is  going 
to  follow  her  expansive  charms,  and  so  she  disappears,  this 
piebald  siren,  into  the  groves,  her  parasol  flashing  back 
Parthian  gleams  of  crimson  as  she  goes.  But  every  one, 
man,  woman,  or  child,  black,  brown,  or  yellow,  was  a  study, 
so  I  must  go  back  to  Marshall  some  day. 

At  present,  however,  we  are  whirling  away  again  through 
the  lovely  woodland,  and  the  whole  afternoon  passes  in  an 


The  fat  Negro  and  small  Miilatto.      355 

unbroken  panorama  of  forest  views,  with  great  glades  of 
meadow  breaking  away  to  right  and  left,  and  patches  of 
maize  and  cotton  suddenly  interrupting  the  stately  proces- 
sion of  timber.  And  then  Jefferson.  Is  Jefferson  more 
prettily  situated  than  Marshall?  I  cannot  say.  But 
Jefferson  lies  back  among  the  trees  with  an  interval  of 
orchard  and  corn-land  between  it  and  the  railway  line,  and 
looks  a  very  charming  retreat  indeed.  A  fat  negro  comes 
on  board  on  duty  of  some  kind  connected  with  the  brake, 
and  a  witty  little  half-breed  boy  comes  on  after  him.  The 
fat  negro  is  the  brown  boy's  butt.  And  he  nearly  bursts 
with  wrath  at  the  hybrid  urchin's  chaff,  and  threatens,  between 
gasps,  a  retaliation  that  cannot  find  utterance  in  words. 
But  the  brown  boy  is  relentless,  and  though  the  train  is 
rapidly  increasing  in  its  speed,  he  clings  to  the  step  and 
taunts  the  negro  who  dare  not  leave  his  look-out  post.  But 
he  knows  very  well  where  the  fat  man  will  get  off,  and 
suddenly,  with  a  parting  personality,  the  little  wretch  drops 
off  the  step,  just  as  a  ripe  apple  might  drop  off  a  branch. 
And  then  the  fat  man  has  to  get  off.  The  speed  is  really 
dangerous,  but  he  climbs  down  the  steps  backwards,  think- 
ing apparently  only  of  his  tormentor,  and  still  breathing 
forth  fire  and  slaughter ;  and  then  lets  go.  Is  he  killed  ? 
Not  a  bit  of  it.  He  lands  on  his  feet  without  apparently 
even  jarring  his  obese  person,  and  when  we  look  back,  we 
see  that  he  is  already  throwing  stones  at  the  small  boy, 
whose  batteries  are  replying  briskly.  I  wonder  if  the 
hippopotamus  ever  caught  the  flea  ?  And  if  he  did,  what 
he  did  to  him  ? 

And  I  remember  how  the  Somali  boys  in  Aden  used  to 

drive  the  bo'sun  to  the  verge  of  despair  by  clambering  on 

to  the  ship  and   pretending  not  to  see  him   working  his 

way  round  towards  them  with  a  rope's  end  behind  his  back, 

A  a  2 


356  Sinners  and  Saints. 

and  how  at  the  very  last  moment,  almost  as  the  arm  was 
raised  to  strike,  the  young  monkeys  used  to  drop  off  back- 
wards into  the  sea,  like  snails  off  a  wall. 

But  is  this  Bengal  or  Texas  that  we  are  travelling 
through  ?  The  vegetation  about  us  is  almost  that  of  sub- 
urban Calcutta,  and  the  heat,  the  damp  steamy  heat  of  low- 
lying  land,  might  be  the  Soonderbuns.  And  here  befell  an 
adventure.  We  were  nearing  Atalanta.  The  train  was  on 
a  down  grade  and  going  very  fast  indeed,  perhaps  half  a 
mile  a  minute.  I  was  sitting  on  my  seat  in  the  Pullman 
with  the  table  up  in  front  of  me  and  reading.  At  the  other 
end  of  the  car  was  a  lady  with  some  children  sitting  with 
their  backs  to  me.  Further  off,  but  also  with  his  back  to 
me,  was  the  conductor.  Each  "  section  "  of  a  car  has  two 
windows.  The  one  at  my  left  elbow  had  the  blind  drawn 
down.  The  other  had  not.  On  a  sudden  at  my  ear,  as  it 
seemed,  there  was  a  report  as  of  a  rifle ;  the  thick  double  glass 
of  the  window  in  front  of  me  flew  into  fragments  all  over  me, 
and  the  woodwork  fell  in  splinters  upon  my  book.  I  instantly 
pulled  up  the  blind  of  the  other  window  and  looked  out  to 
see  who  had  "  fired."  But  of  course  at  the  speed  we  were 
going,  there  was  no  one  in  sight.  I  called  out  to  the  con- 
ductor that  some  one  had  fired  through  the  window.  He 
had  not  heard  the  explosion,  nor  had  the  lady.  So  their 
surprise  was  considerable.  And  while  I  was  looking  in  the 
woodwork  for  the  bullet  I  expected  to  find,  the  conductor 
picked  off  my  table  a  railway  spike !  Some  wretch  had 
thrown  it  at  the  passing  train,  and  the  great  velocity  at  which 
we  were  travelling  gave  the  missile  all  the  deadly  force  of  a 
bullet.  "An  inch  more  towards  the  centre  of  the  win- 
dow, sir,  and  you  might  have  been  killed,"  said  the  brake- 
man.  A  look  at  the  splintered  woodwork,  and  the  bullet-like 
groove  which  the  sharp-pointed  abomination  had  cut  for 


The  Home  of  the  Swamp-goblin.      357 

itself,  was  sufficient  to  assure  .me  that  he  was  right. 
But  think  of  the  atrocious  character  of  such  mischief.  The 
man  who  did  it  probably  never  thought  of  hurting  any  one. 
And  yet  he  narrowly  missed  having  a  horrible  crime  on  his 
head.  "  If  we  could  have  stopped  the  train  and  caught  him, 
we  would  have  lynched  him,"  said  the  conductor.  "  A  year 
or  two  ago  a  miscreant  threw  a  corn  cob  into  a  window, 
very  near  this  spot  too.  It  struck  a  lady,  breaking  her 
cheek  bone,  and  bursting  the  ball  of  her  left  eye.  We 
stopped  the  train,  caught  the  man,  and  hanged  him  by  the 
side  of  the  track  then  and  there." 

And  then  Atalanta,  in  a  country  that  is  very  beautiful, 
but  with  that  poetry  of  malaria  which  suggests  a  peril 
in  such  beauty.  And  gradually  the  land  becomes  swampy, 
and  the  old  trees,  hung  with  moss,  stand  ankle-deep  in 
brown  stagnant  water.  The  glades  are  all  pools,  and  where- 
ever  a  vista  opens,  there  is  a  long  bayou  stretching  down 
between  aisles  of  sombre  trees.  It  is  wonderful  in  its 
unnatural  beauty,  this  forest  standing  in  a  lagoon.  The 
world  was  like  this  when  the  Deluge  was  subsiding.  There 
is  a  mysterious  silence  about  the  gloomy  trees.  Not  a  bird 
lives  among  them.  But  in  the  sullen  water,  there  are  tur- 
tles moving,  and  now  and  then  a  snake  makes  a  moment's 
ripple  on  the  dull  pools.  Sunlight  never  strikes  in,  and  as 
I  looked.  I  could  not  help  remembering  all  the  horrors  of 
the  slave-hunt,  and  the  murder  at  the  end  of  it,  in  the  dark 
depths  of  some  such  horrid  brake  as  these  we  pass.  What 
a  spot  for  legertds  to  gather  round !  Has  no  one  ever 
invented  the  swamp-goblin  ? 

For  an  hour  and  more  we  pass  through  this  eerie  country, 
and  then  comes  a  change  to  higher  land  with  a  splendid 
growth  of  pine  and  walnut  and  oak  all  healthily  rooted  in 
dry  ground.  But  towards  evening  we  come  again  into  the 


35$  Sinners  and  Saints. 

swamps,  and  the  sun  goes  down  rosy-red  behind  the  water- 
logged trees,  till  their  trunks  stand  out  black  against  the 
ruddy  sky  and  the  pools  about  their  feet  take  strange 
tints  of  copper  and  purpled  bronze.  And  suddenly  we 
flash  across  the  track  of  the  narrow-gauge  line  to  New 
Orleans— and  such  a  sight  !  The  line  pierces  an  avenue, 
straight  as  an  arrow,  for  miles  and  miles  through  the  belt  of 
forest.  On  either  side  along  the  track  lie  ditches  filled 
with  water.  But  to-night  the  ditches  seem  filled  with 
logwood  dye,  and  the  wonderful  vista  through  the  deep 
green  trees  is  closed  as  with  a  curtain,  by  the  crimson 
west  ! 

It  was  only  a  glimpse  we  got  of  it,  but  as  long  as 
I  live  I  shall  never  forget  it,  the  most  marvellous  sight  of 
all  my  life. 

No,  not  even  sunrise  upon  the  Himalayas,  nor  the  moon- 
light on  the  palm-garden  in  Mauritius  —  two  miracles 
of  simple  loveliness  that  are  beyond  words — could  sur- 
pass that  glimpse  through  the  Texan  forest.'  It  was  not 
in  the  least  like  this  earth.  Beyond  that  crimson  curtain 
might  have  been  heaven,  or  there  might  have  been  hell. 
But  I  am  not  content  to  believe  that  it  was  merely 
Louisiana. 

And  now  comes  Texakharna  with  its  sweltering  Zanzibar 
heat,  but  an  admirable  supper  to  put  us  into  good  humour, 
and  a  beautiful  moonlight  to  sit  and  smoke  in.  If  the 
sunset  was  weird,  the  moonlight  was  positively  goblinish. 
Such  gloom  !  Not  darkness  remember,  but  gloom,  blacker 
than  darkness,  and  yet  never  absolutely  impenetrable.  At 
least  so  it  seemed,  and  the  fire-flies,  flickering  in  thousands 
above  the  undergrowth  and  up  among  the  invisible  branches, 
helped  the  fancy.  And  the  frogs !  Was  there  ever,  even 
in  India  in  "  the  rains,"  such  a  prodigious  chorus  of  batra- 


Katydids.  359 


chians  ?  And  the  katydids !  Surely  they  were  all  gone 
mad  together.  But  it  was  a  delightful  ride.  Sometimes 
in  the  clearings  we  caught  glimpses  of  negro  parties,  the 
white  dresses  of  the  women  glancing  in  and  out  along 
the  paths,  and  the  sound  of  singing  coming  from  the  huts 
in  the  corners  of  the  maize-patches. 

Here  at  the  corner  of  a  clearing  stands  a  cottage,  a 
regular  fairy-tale  cottage  "  by  the  wood,"  and  in  the  moon- 
light it  looked  as  if,  "  really  and  truly,"  the  walls  were  made 
of  toffy  and  the  roof  was  plum-cake.  At  any  rate  there 
were  great  pumpkins  on  the  roof,  just  such  pumpkins  as 
those  in  which  Cinderella  (after  they  had  turned  into 
coaches)  drove  to  the  Prince's  ball.  And  I  would  bet  my 
last  dollar  on  it  that  the  lizards  that  turned  into  horses  were 
there  too,  and  the  rats,  and  in  the  marsh  close  by  you 
might  have  a  large  choice  of  frogs  to  change  into  coachmen. 

And  yet,  I  cannot  help  thinking,  there  is  a  good  deal  of 
false  sentiment  expended  upon  the  moon,  the  result  of  a 
demoralizing  -humility  which  science  has  taught  the  inhabi- 
tants of  "the  planet  we  call  Earth."  We  are  for  ever  being 
warned  by  our  teachers  against  the  sin  of  pride,  and  being 
told  that  the  universe  is  full  of  "  Earths  "  just  as  good  as 
ours,  and  perhaps  better.  We  are  not,  they  say,  to  fancy 
that  our  own  world  is  something  very  special,  for  it  is  only 
a  little  ball,  spinning  round  and  round  in  the- firmament, 
among  a  number  of  other  balls  which  are  so  superior  to  it 
that  if  our  own  insignificant  orange  came  in  contact 
with  them  we  should  get  the  worst  of  the  collision.  Nor 
are  we  to  fancy  that  the  moon  Is  our  private  property,  and 
grumble  at  her  shabbiness,  as  our  planetary  betters  have  a 
superior  claim  to  their  share  of  her,  and  this  sphere  of  ours 
ought  to  be  very  thankful  for  as  much  of  the  luminary  as  it 
gets. 


360  Sinners  and  Saints. 

Now,  to  my  thinking,  there  is  something  distinctly 
degrading  in  this  view.  Englishmen  maintain  patriotically 
that  Great  Britain  is  the  Queen  of  the  Sea;  why,  then, 
should  not  we  Earthians,  with  a  larger  patriotism,  say  that 
our  planet  is  the  best  planet  of  the  kind  in  the  firmament, 
and,  putting  on  one  side  all  petty  territorial  distinctions, 
boldly  challenge  the  supremacy  of  the  Universe  itself? 
Depend  upon  it,  if  any  presumptuous  moon-men  or  Jupi- 
terites  were  to  descend  to  Earth  and  begin  to  boast,  they 
would  be  very  soon  put  down,  and  I  do  not  see,  therefore, 
why  we  should  not  at  once  call  upon  all  the  other  stars  and 
comets  to  salute  our  flag  whenever  we  sail  past  them  on  the 
high  seas  of  the  Empyrean.  As  it  is,  we  are  taught 
timidity  by  science,  and  told  that  whenever  a  filibustering 
comet  or  meteor — the  pirates  and  privateers  of  the  skies — 
comes  along  our  way  we  are  to  expect  instant  combustion, 
or  something  worse.  Why  are  they  not  made  to  drop  their 
colours  by  a  shot  across  their  bows  ?  or  why,  when  we  next 
see  a  meteor  bearing  down  upon  us,  should  we  not  steer 
straight  at  it,  and,  using  Chimborazo  or  Mount  Everest,  or  the 
.dome  of  St.  Paul's,  or  the  Capitol  at  Washington  as  a  ram, 
sink  the  rascal  ?  A  broadside  from  our  volcanic  batteries, 
Etna  and  Hecla,  Vesuvius,  Erebus,  and  the  rest  would 
soon  settle  the  matter,  and  we  should  probably  hear  no 
more  for  a  long  time  to  come  of  these  black- flagged  craft 
who  go  cruising  about  to  the  annoyance  of  honest  planets. 
The  same  unbecoming  apprehensions  are  entertained  with 
regard  to  the  moon.  Yet  it  is  absurd  that  we  should  be 
afraid  of  her.  The  Earth,  by  its  velocity  and  weight,  could 
butt  the  n,oon  into  space  or  smash  her  into  all  her  original 
fragments,  could  bombard  her  with  volcanoes,  or  put  an 
earthquake  under  her  and  make  a  ruin  of  her,  or  turn  the 
Atlantic  on  to  her  and  put  her  out.  The  moon  is  really 


Is  the  Moon  a  fraud?  361 

our  own  property,  something  between  a  pump  and  a 
night  light,  and,  if  the  truth  must  be  told,  not  very  good  as 
either.  Twice  a  day  she  is  supposed  to  raise  the  water  of 
our  oceans,  but  we  have  often  had  to  complain  of  her  irre- 
gularity; and  every  night  she  ought  to  be  available  for 
lighting  people  home  to  their  beds,  but  seldom  is.  As  a  rule, 
our  nights  are  very  dark  indeed,  owing  to  her  non-attendance ; 
and  even  when  she  is  on  duty  the  arrangements  she  makes 
for  keeping  clouds  off  her  face  are  most  defective.  If  the 
Earth  were  to  be  half  as  irregular  in  the  duties  which  she  has 
to  perform  there  would  soon  be  a  stoppage  of  everything, 
collisions  at  all  the  junctions,  accidents  at  the  level  cross- 
ings, planets  telescoped  in  every  direction,  and  passengers 
and  satellites  much  shaken,  if  not  seriously  injured.  But 
the  Earth  is  business-like  and  practical,  and  sets  an  example 
to  those  other  denizens  of  the  firmament  which  are  perpetually 
breaking  out  in  eruptions,  getting  off  the  track,  and  going 
about  in  disorderly  gangs  to  the  public  annoyance.  Why, 
then,  we  ask,  ought  our  planet  to  be  for  ever  taking  off  its 
hat  to  the  flat-faced  old  moon,  who  is  always  trying  to  show 
off  with  borrowed  light,  makes  such  a  monstrous  secret 
of  her  "other  side,"  is  perpetually  being  snubbed  by 
eclipses,  and  made  fun  of  by  stars  that  go  and  get 
occultated  by  her  ? 

But  there  are  objections  to  discarding  the  luminary,  for 
it  is  never  a  graceful  act  to  turn  off  an  old  dependant,  and, 
besides,  the  moon  is  about  as  economical  a  contrivance  as 
we  could  have  for  keeping  up  the  normal  average  of  lunatics, 
giving  dogs  something  to  bark  at  by  night  when  they  cannot 
see  anything  else,  and  affording  us  an  opportunity  of  showing 
that  respect  for  antiquities  which  is  so  becoming. 

But  what  business  the  Man  in  the  Moon  has  there, 
remains  to  be  decided ;  and  who  gave  him  permission  to  go 


362  Sinners  and  Saints. 

collecting  firewood  in  our  moon,  remains  to  be  seen. 
For  it  is  well  to  remember  that  a  very  distinguished  French 
savant  has  proved  that  the  moon  is  the  private  property  of 
the  Earth.  We  used,  he  says,  to  do  very  well  without  a  moon 
once  upon  a  time ;  but  going  along  on  our  orbit  one  day,  we 
picked  up  the  present  luminary — then  a  mere  vagabond,  a 
disreputable  vagrant  mass  of  matter,  with  no  visible  means 
of  subsistence — "  and  shall,  perhaps,  in  the  future  pick  up 
other  moons  in  the  same  way."  As  a  matter  of  fact  then,  he 
declares  the  moon  to  be  a  dependant  of  our  Earth,  and  says 
that  if  we  were  selfishly  to  withdraw  our  "  attraction  "  from 
it,  the  poor  old  luminary  would  tumble  into  space,  and 
never  be  able  to  stop  herself,  or,  worse  still,  might  come  into 
collision  with  some  wandering  comet  or  other,  and  get 
blown  up  entirely.  We  ought,  therefore,  to  think  kindly  of 
the  faithful  old  creature  ;  but  we  should  not,  all  the  same, 
allow  any  length  of  service  to  blind  us  to  the  actual  relations 
between  her  and  ourselves — much  less  to  make  us  frightened 
of  the  moon. 

But  the  man  in  the  moon  should  be  seen  to.  He  is 
either  there  or  he  is  not.  If  he  is,  he  ought  to  pay  taxes  : 
and  if  he  is  not,  he  has  no  right  to  go  on  pretending  that 
he  is. 


363 


CHAPTER  XXIX. 

Frogs,  in  the  swamp,  and  as  a  side-dish — Negroids  of  the  swamp  age — 
Something  like  a  mouth — Honour  in  your  own  country — The  Land 
of  Promise — Civilization  again. 

ARKANSAS  remains  on  the  mind  (and  the  traveller's  note- 
book) as  a  vast  forest  of  fine  timber  standing  in  swamps. 
There  are  no  doubt  exceptions,  but  they  do  not  suffice 
to  affect  the  general  impression.  And  if  I  owned  Arkansas 
I  think  I  should  rent  it  to  some  one  else  to  live  in ;  espe- 
cially to  some  one  fond  of  frogs.  For  myself,  I  feel  no  ten- 
derness towards  the  monotonous  batrachian.  Even  in  a  bill 
of  fare  the  tenderness  is  all  on  the  frog's  side.  But  on 
the  whole,  I  like  him  best  when  he  is  cooked.  In  the 
water  with  his  "  damnable  iteration  "  of  Yank  !  yank  !  yank  ! 
I  detest  him — legs  and  all.  But  served  "  a  cresson,"  with  a 
clear  brown  gravy,  I  find  no  aggressiveness  in  him.  It 
gets  cooked  out  of  him  :  he  becomes  the  gentlest  eating 
possible.  Butter  would  not  melt  in  his  mouth,  though  it 
does  on  his  legs.  There  is  none  of  the  valiant  mouse- 
impaling  "  mud-compeller  "  about  him  when  you  foregather 
with  him  as  a  side  dish.  Aristophanes  would  not  recognize 
him,  and  the  "  nibbler  of  cheese  rind  "  might  then  triumph 
easily  over  him.  Yet  to  think  how  once  he  shuddered  the 
earth,  and  shook  Olympus  !  The  goddess  that  leans  upon  a 
.  spear  wept  for  him,  and  Aphrodite  among  her  roses  trembled. 


364  Sinners  and  Saints. 

i 

But  here  in  Arkansas,  on  a  hot  night  in  "the  Moon  of  Straw- 
berries," what  a  multitudinous  horror  they  are  these  "  tuneful 
natives  of  the  reedy  lake  ! "  Like  the  laughter  of  the  sea, 
beyond  arithmetic.  Like  the  complainings  of  the  plagued 
usurers  in  Hell,  beyond  compassion.  I  cannot  venture  my 
pen  upon  it.  It  is  like  launching  out  upon  "  the  tenth 
wave,"  for  an  infinite  natation  upon  cycles  of  floods.  It  is 
endless  ;  snakes  with  tails  in  their  mouths  ;  trying  to  correct 
the  grammar  of  a  Mexican's  English. 

But,  seriously ;  .was  ever  air  so  full  of  sound  as  these 
Arkansas  swamps  "  upon  a  night  in  June ! "  It  fairly 
vibrates  with  Yank  !  yank  !  yank  !  And  yet  over,  and  under, 
and  through,  all  this  metallic  din,  there  shrills  supreme  the 
voice  of  strident  cicadas,  without  number  and  without  shame, 
and  countless  katydids  that  scream  out  their  confidences 
to  all  the  stars.  It  is  really  astonishing  ;  a  tour  de  force 
in  Nature;  a  noisy  miracle.  I  wonder  Moses  did  not  think 
of  it,  for  such  a  plague  might  have  done  him  credit,  I  think. 
At  all  events,  the  ancestors  of  Arabi  Pasha  would  have  been 
egregiously  inconvenienced  by  such  a  hubbub.  It  is  no  use 
trying  to  talk  ;  yank — Katy  did—  yank — yank.  That  is  all 
you  hear.  So  you  may  just  as  well  sit  and  smoke  quietly, 
and  watch  the  moon-lit  swamps  and  wonderful  dark  forests 
go  by,  with  their  perpetual  flicker  of  restless  fire-flies,  twink- 
ling in  and  out  among  the  brushwood.  If  they  would  only 
combine  into  one  central  electric  light !  All  the  world 
would  go  to  see  them — the  new  "  Brush-light."  But  there 
is  very  little  sense  of  utility  among  fire-flies.  They  flicker 
about  for  their  own  amusement,  and  are  of  a  frivolous, 
flighty  kind  :  perpetually  striking  matches  as  if  to  look  for 
something,  and  then  blowing  them  out  again.  They  strike 
only  on  their  own  box. 

But  here  comes  a  station — "  Hope."     We  are  soon  past 


Negroids  of  the  Swamp  Age.  365 

Hope  ;  and  then  comes  another  swamp,  with  its  pools,  that 
have  festered  all  day  long  in  the  sun,  emitting  the  odours  of 
a  Zanzibar  bazaar,  and  standing  in  the  middle  of  them  ap- 
parently are  some  clearings  already  filled  with  crops,  and  a 
hut  or  two  cowering,  as  if  they  were  wild  beasts,  just  on  the 
edge  of  the  timber  where  the  shadows  fall  the  darkest.  What 
kind  of  people  are  they  that  live  in  this  terraqueous  land  ? 
No  race  that  is  fit  to  rule  can  do  it.  No,  nor  even  fit  to 
vote.  Some  day,  no  doubt,  the  wise  men  of  the  world  will 
dig  up  tufts  of  wool,  and  skulls  with  prognathous  jaws,  and 
label  them  "  Negroids  of  the  swamp  age."  Or  they  may 
fall  into  the  error  of  supposing  that  the  wool  grew  all  over 
their  bodies  equally,  and  some  Owen  of  the  future  discourse 
wisely  of  "  the  great  extinct  anthropoids  of  Arkansas."  For 
in  those  wonderful  days  that  are  coming— when  men  will 
know  all  about  the  wind-currents,  and  steer  through  ocean- 
billows  by  chart,  when  doctors  will  understand  the  small- 
pox, and  everybody  have  the  same  language,  currency,  reli- 
gion, and  customs  duties,  and  when  every  newspaper  office  will 
be  fitted  with  patent  reflectors,  showing  on  a  table  in  the 
editor's  room  all  that  is  going  on  all  over  the  world,  and 
special  correspondents  will  be  as  extinct  as  dodos,  and  when 
many  other  delightful  means  of  saving  time  and  trouble 
will  have  come  to  pass— then,  no  doubt,  as  the  Mormons 
say,  all  the  world  will  have  become  "  a  white  and  a  delight- 
some people,"  and  the  commentators  will  explain  away  the 
passages  in  the  ancient  English  which  seem  to  point  to  the 
early  existence  of  a  race  that  was  as  black  as  coals,  and 
lived  on  pumpkins  in  a  swamp. 

And  still  we  sit  up,  long  past  midnight,  for  never  again 
in  our  lives  probably  shall  we  have  such  an  experience  as 
this,  so  unearthly  in  its  surroundings — forests  that  crowded 
in  upon  the  rails  and  hung  threateningly  over  the  cars, 


366  Sinners  and  Saints. 

pools  that  lay  glistening  in  the  moonlight  round  the 
foot  of  the  trees,  the  air  as  thick  as  porridge  with  the 
yanking  of  brazen -throated  frogs,  and  the  screaming  of  tin- 
lunged  cicadas,  yet  all  the  time  alive  with  lantern-tailed 
insects — just  as  if  the  clamour  of  frogs  and  cicadas  struck 
fireflies  out  of  each  other  in  the  same  way  that  flint  and 
steel  strike  flashes,  or  as  if  their  recriminations  caught  fire 
like  Acestes'  arrows  as  they  flew,  and  peopled  the  in- 
flammable air  with  phosphorescent  tips  of  flame — a  battery 
of  din  perpetually  grinding  out  showers  of  electric  sparks. 

And  to  make  us  remember  this  night  the  cars  bumped 
abominably  over  the  dislocated  sleepers  and  the  sunken 
rails,  as  the  Spanish  father  whipped  his  son  that  he  might 
never  forget  the  day  on  which  he  saw  a  live  salamander ; 
and  the  engine  flew  a  streamer  of  sparks  and  ink-black 
smoke,-  till  it  felt  as  if  we  were  riding  to  Hades  on  a  three- 
legged  dragon.  But  it  came  to  sleep  at  last,  and  we  went 
to  bed,  leaving  the  moonlit  country  to  the  vagaries  of  the 
fireflies  and  the  infinite  exultations  of  the  frogs. 

Awaking  in  the  morning  with  "  the  grey  wolfs  tail  "  still 
in  the  sky,  what  a  wonderful  change  had  settled  on  the 
scene !  The  same  swamped  forests  on  either  side  of  us  :  the 
same  gloomy  trees  and  the  same  sulky-looking  pools  ;  but 
a  dull  leaden  Silence  supreme  !  Where  were  the  creatures 
that  had  crowded  the  moonlight  ?  You  might  live  a  whole 
month  of  mornings  without  suspecting  that  there  were  any 
such  things  in  Arkansas  as  frogs  or  katydids  or  fireflies  ! 

I  should  have  gone  to  sleep  again  if  I  had  not  caught 
sight  of  our  new  porter,  or  brakeman.  He  happened  to  be 
laughing,  and  the  corners  of  his  mouth,  so  it  seemed  to  me, 
must  have  met  behind.  I  need  hardly  say  he  was  a  negro. 
But  at  first  I  thought  he  was  a  practical  joke.  I  took  the 
earliest  opportunity  of  looking  at  the  back  of  his  neck,  to 


Through  flooded  Forests.  367 

see  what  kept  his  head  together  when  he  laughed.  But  I 
only  saw  a  brass  button.  I  should  not  have  thought  that 
was  enough  to  keep  a  man's  skull  together,  if  I  had  not 
seen  it.  And  he  was  always  laughing,  so  that  there  was 
nearly  as  much  expression  on  the  back  of  his  head  as  on 
the  front.  He  laughed  all  round. 

I  felt  inclined  to  advise  him  to  get  his  mouth  mended, 
or  to  tell  him  about  "  a  stitch  in  time."  But  he  seemed 
so  happy  I  did  not  think  it  worth  while. 

Is  it  worth  while  saying  that  the  swamp  forest  continued  ? 
I  think  not.  So  please  understand  it,  and  think  of  the 
country  as  a  flooded  forest,  with  wonderful  brown  waterways 
stretching  through  the  trees,  just  as  glades  of  grass  do  else- 
where, with  here  and  there,  every  now  and  again,  a  broad 
river-like  bayou  of  coffee  stretching  to  right  and  left,  and 
winding  out  of  sight  round  the  trees,  and  every  now 
and  again  a  group  of  wooden  cabins,  most  picturesquely 
squalid,  and  inhabited  by  coloured  folk. 

Does  anybody  know  anything  of  these  people  ?  Are 
they  cannibals,  or  polygamous,  or  polyandrous,  or  am- 
phibious ?  Surely  a  decade  of  unrestricted  freedom  and 
abundant  food  in  such  solitudes  as  these,  must  have  deve- 
loped some  extraordinary  social  features  ?  At  all  events,  it 
is  very  difficult  to  believe  that  they  are  ordinary  mortals. 

The  hamlets  are  few  and  far  between,  and  it  is  only 
once  or  twice  during  the  day  that  we  strike  a  village 
nomine  dignus.  Looking  at  a  garden  in  one  of  these 
larger  hamlets,  I  notice  that  the  hollyhock  and  pink 
and  petunia  are  favourite  flowers ;  and  it  is  worth  re- 
marking that  it  is  with  flowers  as  with  everything 
else — the  imported  articles  are  held  in  highest  esteem. 
Writing  once  upon  tobacco  cultivation  in  the  East,  I 
remember  noting  that  each  province  between  Persia  and 


368  Sinners  and  Saints. 


Bengal  imported  its  tobacco  from  its  next  neighbour  on  the 
west,  and  exported  its  own  eastward.  It  struck  me  as  a 
curious  illustration  of  the  universal  fancy  for  "  foreign " 
goods.  So  with  flowers.  It  is  very  seldom  that  the  wild 
plants  of  a  locality  arrive  at  the  dignity  of  a  garden.  In 
England  we  sow  larkspurs  ;  in  Utah  they  weed  them  out. 
In  England  we  prize  the  passion-flower  and  the  verbena ; 
in  Arkansas  they  carefully  leave  them  outside  their  garden 
fences.  And  what  splendid  flowers  these  people  scorn, 
simply  because  they  grow  wild  !  Some  day,  I  expect,  it 
will  occur  to  some  enterprising  settler  that  there  is  a 
market  abroad  for  his  "  weeds " ;  and  that  lily-bulbs  and 
creeper-roots  are  not  such  rubbish  as  others  think. 

Then  Poplar  Bluff,  a  crazy-looking  place,  with  many  of 
its  houses  built  on  piles,  and  a  saloon  that  calls  itself  "  the 
XIOUS  saloon."  I  tried  to  pronounce  the  name.  Perhaps 
some  one  else  can  do  it.  Then  the  swamp  reasserts  itself, 
and  the  forest  of  oak  and  walnut,  sycamore  and  plane.  But 
the  settlements  are  singularly  devoid  of  trees,  whether  for  . 
fruit  or  shade.  The  people,  I  suppose,  think  there  are  too 
many  about  already. 

And  now  we  are  in  Missouri — the  Mormons'  '  land  01 
promise,'  and  the  scene  of  their  greatest  persecutions.  It  is 
a  beautiful  State,  as  Nature  made  it ;  but  it  almost  de- 
serves to  be  Jesse-Jamesed  for  ever  for  its  barbarities  to- 
wards the  Mormons.  No  wonder  the  Saints  cherish  a 
hatred  against  the  people,  and  look  forward  to  the 
day  when  they  shall  come  back  and  repossess  their  land. 
For  it  is  an  article  of  absolute  belief  among  the  Mormons, 
that  some  day  or  other  they  are  going  back  to  Jackson 
County,  and  numbers  of  them  still  preserve  the  title-deeds 
to  the  lands  from  which  they  were  driven  with  such  mur- 
derous cruelty. 


Back  to  the  Mississippi.  369 

It  was  here  that  I  saw  men  working  a  deposit  of  that 
"  white  earth  "  which  has  done  as  much  to  bring  American 
trade-enterprise  into  disrepute  as  glucose  and  oleomarge- 
rine  put  together.  In  itself  a  harmless,  useless  substance, 
it  is  used  in  immense  quantities  for  "  weighting "  other 
articles  and  for  general  adulteration ;  and  I  could  not  help 
thinking  that  the  man  who  owns  the  deposit  must  feel 
uncomfortably  mean  at  times.  But  it  is  a  paying  concern, 
for  the  world  is  full  of  rascals  ready  to  buy  the  stuff. 

And,  after  all,  one  half  the  world  lives  by  poisoning  the 
other. 

A  thunderstorm  broke  over  the  country  as  we  were  pass- 
ing through  it,  and  I  could  not  help  admiring  the  sincerity 
of  the  Missouri  rain.  There  was  no  reservation  whatever 
about  it,  for  it  came  down  with  a  determined  ferocity  that 
made  one  think  the  clouds  had  a  spite  against  the  earth. 
Moss  Ferry,  a  ragged,  desolate  hamlet,  looked  as  if  it  was 
being  drowned  for  its  sins  :  and  I  sympathized  with  pretty 
Piedmont  in  the  deluge  that  threatened  to  wash  it  away. 
But  we  soon  ran  out  of  the  storm,  and  rattling  past 
Gadshill,  the  scene  of  one  of  Jesse  James'  train-robbing 
exploits,  and  sped  along  through  lovely  scenery  of 
infinite  variety,  and  almost  unbroken  cultivation,  to  Arcadia. 

But  this  is  "civilization."  In  a  few  hours  more  I  find 
myself  back  again  at  the  Mississippi,  the  Indus  of  the 
West,  and  speeding  along  its  bank  with  the  Columbia 
bottom-lands  lying  rich  and  low  on  the  other  side  of  the 
prodigious  river,  and  reminding  me  exactly  of  the  great 
flat  islands  that  you  see  lying  in  the  Hooghly  as  you  steam 
up  to  Calcutta— past  the  new  parks  which  St.  Louis  is 
building  for  itself,  and  so,  through  the  hideous  adjuncts  of 
a  prosperous  manufacturing  town,  into  St.  Louis  itself. 

Out  of  deference  to  St.  Louis,  I  hide  my  Texan  hat,  and 

B  b 


37°  Sinners  and  Saints. 

disguise  myself  as  a  respectable  traveller.  For  I  have  done 
now  with  the  wilds  and  the  West,  and  am  conscious  in 
the  midst  of  this  thriving  city  that  I  have  returned  to  a 
tyrannical  civilization. 

And  I  take  a  parting  cocktail  with  the  Western  friend 
who  has  been  my  companion  for  the  last  three  thousand 
miles. 

"  Wheat,"  says  he,  with  his  little  finger  in  the  air. 

And  I  reply,  "  Here's  How." 


THE  END. 


UNDER   THE   SUN. 

BY    PHIL.    ROBINSON. 

i6mo,  cloth.     Price,  $1-50. 

ROBERTS   BROTHERS,  Publishers,  BOSTON. 


OPINIONS    OF    THE    LONDON     PRESS    ON    THE    WRITINGS    OF 
THE    "NEW    ENGLISH    HUMORIST." 

"  These  delightful  papers  .  .  .  quaint  humor  and  remarkable  literary  skill  and 
taste.  Old  Izaac  Walton  would  have  enjoyed  them  immensely  ;  so  would  White 
of  Selborne,  and  even  Addison  would  have  admired  them.  ...  A  sympathetic 
power  of  entering  into  their  life  and  hitting  it  off  in  a  happy  and  humorous  man- 
ner, with  the  aid  of  much  literary  culture.  ...  In  reading  his  loving  diatribes 
against  his  furred  and  feathered  acquaintances,  one  cannot  help  remembering  that 
India  has  always  been  the  home  of  the  Beast  Story.  But  since  the  Sanskrit  Hito 
padesa  was  put  together,  we  question  whether  any  writer  has  given  us  such  pic- 
tures of  the  floating  population  of  lotus-covered  tanks,  and  the  domestic  life  that 
goes  on  in  the  great  Indian  trees.  To  Mr.  Robinson,  every  pipal  or  mango  tree 
is  a  many-storied  house  :  each  branch  is  full  of  vitality  and  intrigue,  as  an  it  age 
of  a  Parisian  mansion.  Snakes  and  toads  live  in  a  small  way  on  the  ground  floor, 
until  the  arrival  of  the  mongoose  with  his  writ  of  ejectment;  lizards  lead  a  rackety, 
bachelor  existence  in  the  entresol ;  prosperous  parrots  occupy  suites  en  prsmi&re ; 
cats  and  gray  squirrels  are  for  ever  skipping  up  or  down  stairs.  The  higher  stories 
are  the  modest  abodes  of  the  small  artistic  world  :  vocalist  bulbuls  and  dramatic 
mainas  rehearsing  their  parts.  The  garrets  and  topmost  perches  are  peopled  with 
poor  predatory  kites  or  vultures  ;  from  whom  the  light-fingered  and  more  deeply 
criminal  crow  pilfers,  not  without  a  chuckle,  their  clumsily  stolen  supper.  .  .  . 
Mr.  Robinson  is  the  Columbus  of  the  banyan-tree.  He  sails  away  into  its  recesses 
and  discovers  new  worlds.  .  .  .  Mr.  Robinson  has  only  to  do  justice  to  his  artistic 
perceptions,  and  to  his  fine  vein  of  humor  in  order  to  create  for  himself  a  unique 
place  among  the  essayists  of  our  day."  —  The  Academy. 

"  These  charming  little  word-pictures  of  Indian  life  and  Indian  scenery  are, 
so  it  appears  to  us,  something  more  than  an  unusually  bright  page  in  Anglo-Indian 
literature  ...  as  much  humor  as  human  sympathy.  .  .  .  The  book  abounds  in 
delightful  passages;  let  the  reader,  who  will  trust  us,  find  them  for  himself.  .  .  . 
Mr.  Edwin  Arnold,  who  has  introduced  this  little  volume  to  English  readers  by  a 
highly-appreciative  preface,  says  truly  that  from  these  slight  sketches  a  most  vivid 
impression  of  every-day  Indian  life  may  be  gathered.  .  .  .  The  chief  merit  of 
these  Indian  sketches  lies  in  their  truthfulness;  their  realism  is  the  secret  of  their 
vivid  poetic  life."  —  The  Examiner. 

"  One  of  the  most  charming  little  series  of  sketches  we  have  ever  read.  If  we 
could  imagine  a  kind  of  cross  between  White  of  Selborne  and  the  American 
writer  Thoreau,  we  should  be  able  better  to  define  what  manner  of  author  Mr. 
Phil  Robinson  is.  He  is  clearly  a  masterly  observer  of  out-door  life  in  India,  and 
not  only  records  faithfully  what  he  sees,  but  illuminates  the  record  by  flashes  of 
gentle  culture  such  as  can  only  come  from  a  well-stored  and  scholarly  mind,  and 
darts,  moreover,  sunny  rays  of  humor  such  as  can  only  proceed  from  a  richly  en- 
dowed and  truly  sympathetic  nature.  All  living  things  he  loves,  and  hence  he 
writes  about  them  reverently  and  lovingly.  What  the  accomplished  author  of  the 
preface  calls  '  the  light  and  laughing  science '  of  this  little  book  will  do  more  to 
familiarize  the  English  reader  with  the  out-door  look  of  India  than  anything  else,  — 
save,  of  course,  years  of  residence  in  the  country."—  The  Daily  Telegraph. 


Press  •  Notices. 


"  One  of  the  most  delightful  and  fascinating  little  books  with  which  we  have 
met  for  a  long  time.  It  is  a  rare  pleasure  to  come  across  anything  so  fresh  and 
brilliant.  ...  A  literary  treat  is  presented  in  this  most  clever  and  striking  little 
volume.  We  can  fancy  with  what  a  thorough  sense  of  enjoyment  poor  Mortimer 
Collins  would  have  turned  over  these  pages,  and  how  Mr  Robinson's  graphic 
sketches  of  the  ways  of  birds  and  the  growth  of  trees  would  have  appealed  to 
Charles  Kingsley.  It  is  certainly  a  striking  illustration  of  the  old  story,  '  Eyes 
and  No  Eyes.'  His  style  is  particularly  happy,  and  there  is  a  freshness  of  tone 
about  his  whole  bcok  which  raises  it  far  above  the  ordinary  level.  ...  It  has 
been  reserved  fo/  Mr.  Robinson  to  open  this  new  field  of  literature  to  English 
readers;  and  we  hope  that  his  venture  may  meet  with  the  success  which  it  de- 
serves, so  that  the  present  volume  may  prove  but  the  first  of  a  long  and  delightful 
series.  .  .  ."  —  John  Bull. 

"  This  is  a  charming  volume.  ...  In  his  style  we  are  reminded  frequently  of 
Charles  Lamb.  .  .  .  The  book  has  an  antique  flavor,  like  the  quaint  style  of  Elia; 
and,  like  Lamb,  Mr.  Robinson  has  evidently  made  an  affectionate  acquaintance 
with  some  of  our  early  humorists.  That  he  is  himself  a  humorist,  and  looks  at 
Indian  life  with  a  mirthfulness  sometimes  closely  allied  to  pathos,  is  the  charac- 
teristic which  is  likely  first  to  strike  the  reader.  But  he  will  observe,  too,  that  if 
Mr.  Robinson  describes  birds,  flowers,  trees,  and  insects  with  the  pen  of  the 
humorist  rather  than  of  the  naturalist,  it  is  not  because  he  has  failed  to  note  the 
common  objects  in  his  Indian  garden  with  the  patient  observation  of  a  man  of 
science.  The  attraction  of  a  book  like  this  will  be  more  easily  felt  than  described  ; 
and,  just  as  there  are  persons  unable  to  enjoy  the  fragrance  of  certain  flowers  or 
the  taste  of  certain  choice  wines,  it  is  possible  Mr.  Robinson's  brightly-written 
pages  may  not  prove  universally  attractive.  Readers  who  enjoy  them  at  all  will 
enjoy  them  thoroughly.  ...  It  would  be  impossible  to  convey  the  full  flavor  of 
this  distinctly  marked  volume  without  extracting  freely  from  its  pages.  The 
sketches  are  so  full  of  freshness  and  vivacity  that  the  reader,  sitting  under  an 
English  roof,  will  be  able  for  the  moment  to  see  what  the  writer  saw,  and  to  feel 
what  he  felt."  —  The  Pall  Mall  Gazette. 

"This  book  is  simply  charming.  ...  A  perfect  mine  of  entertaining  and 
unique  information.  ...  An  exquisite  literary  style,  supplementing  rare  powers 
of  observation ;  moreover,  the  resources  of  a  cultivated  intellect  are  brought  into 
play  as  well  as  those  of  a  delicate  and  fertile  fancy.  The  distinguishing  character- 
istic of  these  charming  trifles  is  perhaps  leisureliness,  yet  something  of  the  quaint 
grace  of  our  olden  writers  clings  to  Mr.  Robinson's  periods.  .  .  .  Mr.  Robinson, 
in  short,  is  one  of  those  few  authors  who  have  found  their  precise  metier,  and  can 
therefore  write  so  as  to  entrance  his  readers."  —  The  Whitehall  Review. 

"A  delightful  little  book  is  '  My  Indian  Garden,'  in  which  an  Anglo-Indian 
sketches,  with  a  delicacy,  grace,  and  humor  that  are  unflagging  and  irresistible, 
some  aspects  of  outdoor  life  in  India  which  have  hitherto,  for  the  most  part, 
escaped  the  observation  of  writers  on  that  wonderful  land.  ...  As  an  observer 
of  natural  history,  he  is  scarcely  inferior  to  Gilbert  White,  while  he  has  a  capacity 
for  recognizing  and  bringing  out  the  ludicrous  aspect  of  a  subject  that  was  denied 
to  the  dear  old  recluse  of  Selborne,  and  the  literary  charm  of  the  book  will  be 
apparent  to  all.  Mr.  Robinson  quaintly  mingles  shrewd  observation  of  the  man- 
ners and  customs  of  the  creatures  he  portrays  with  quizzical  and  metaphysical 
speculation.  It  has  been  said  that  Mark  Twain's  '  New  Pilgrim's  Progress,' 
with  all  its  drollery,  is  about  the  best  and  most  informatory  tourist's  hand-book 
for  the  Holy  Land  in  existence.  Just  in  the  same  way  Mr.  Robinson's  '  Noah's 
Ark' is  the  best  possible  companion  for  a  visitor  to  the  London  Zoological  Gar- 
dens. Our  author  has  an  unerring  eye  for  the  ludicrous  aspect  of  things  ;  he 
pokes  fun  remorselessly  at  all  animated  nature,  from  the  elephant  to  the  mosquito ; 
but  amid  the  play  of  his  humor  there  are  many  touches  of  real  pathos,  snatches 
of  powerful  description,  and  a  great  deal  of  solid  information.  .  .  "  —  Edinburgh 
Scotsman.  ( 

"  It  is  not  given  to  many  writers  in  these  days  to  produce  a  book,  small  or 
large,  which  shall  not  in  some  degree  remind  the  omnivorous  reader  of  many  other 
books,  either  by  reason  of  its  subject-matter,  or  its  mode  of  treatment,  or  of  both. 
Mr.  Robinson's  'In  my  Indian  Garden,'  however,  fairly  establishes  for  its  author 
a  claim  to  this  rare  distinction.  A  fancy  open  to  all  the  quaint,  humorous,  old  phil- 


Press  Notices. 


osophical  reflections  which  the  objects  around  him  suggest.  Underlying  this  in- 
direct way  of  looking  at  things,  a  genuine  love  of  Indian  rural  life,  and  a  cultivated 
taste,  are  abundantly  indicated.  Some  of  the  brief  descriptive  passages  are  curiously 
vivid."  —  Daily  News. 

"  Mr  Robinson  is  a  genial  naturalist  and  genuine  humorist.  A  more  agreeable 
pocket-companion  we  can  hardly  choose  than  this  volume."  —  Ilhistrated  London 
News. 

"Mr.  Robinson's  charming  essays  breathe  the  true  literary  spirit  in  every  line. 
They  are  not  mere  machine-made  sweetmeats,  to  be  swallowed  whole  and  never 
again  remembered  ;  but  they  rather  resemble  the  most  cunning  admixtures  of 
good  things,  turned  put  by  a  skilful  craftsman  in  matters  culinary.  Whoever  once 
reads  this  delicious  little  book  will  not  lay  it  carelessly  aside,  but  will  place  it  with 
respectful  epicurean  tenderness  on  his  favorite  shelf,  side  by  side  with  Oliver 
Wendell  Holmes's  'Kindred  Musings,'  and  not  tar  removed  from  the  fresh  coun- 
try atmosphere  of  Gilbert  White's  '  Selborne.'  Mr.  Robinson  plants  himself  in 
the  verandah  of  a  bungalow,  it  is  true,  and  surveys  nature  as  it  presents  itself  upon 
the  sweltering  banks  of  the  Jumna ;  but  he  sees  it  with  an  eye  trained  on  the 
shores  of  Cam  or  Isis,  and  describes  it  with  a  hand  evidently  skilled  in  the  com- 
position of  classical  lore.  Mr.  Robinson's  humor  is  too  tender  not  to  have  a 
pathetic  side  ;  little  children  come  in  for  no  small  share  of  pitiful,  kindly  notice, 
and  the  love  for  dumb  creatures  shines  out  in  every  page."  —  London. 

"  Mr.  Edwin  Arnold's  praise  is  valuable,  for  it  is  the  praise  of  one  who  knows; 
and  Mr.  Robinson  fully  deserves  all  that  is  said  of  him.  His  style  is  delightful. 
He  has  read  much  and  observed  much ;  and  there  is  a  racy  flavor  of  Charles 
Lamb  about  him.  A  book  which  once  begun  is  sure  to  be  read  through,  and  then 
read  aloud  to  any  to  whom  the  reader  wishes  to  give  pleasure."  —  The  Echo. 

"Bright  and  fanciful  —  the  author  has  done  for  the  common  objects  of  India 
something  which  Gilbert  White  did  for  Selborne  —  graceful  and  animated  sketches, 
sometimes  full  of  an  intense  reality,  in  other  places  of  a  quaint  and  delicate  humor 
which  has  a  flavor  as  of  the  '  Essays  of  Elia.'  "  —  The  Guardian. 

"  This  dainty  volume  is  one  of  those  rare  books  that  come  upon  the  critic  from 
time  to  time  as  a  surprise  and  a  refreshment,  —  a  book  to  be  put  in  the  favorite 
corner  of  the  library,  and  to  be  taken  up  often  again  with  renewed  pleasure.  Mr. 
Robinson's  brief  picturesque  vignettes  of  every-day  life,  in  India  —  always  good- 
natured,  often  humorous — are  real  little  idylls  of  exquisite  taste  and  delicacy. 
Mr.  Robinson's  style  is  exuberant  with  life,  overflowing  too  with  reminiscences  of 
Western  literature,  even  the  most  modern.  In  his  longer  and  more  ambitious 
descriptions  he  displays  rare  graphic  power ;  and  his  sketches  of  the  three  sea- 
sons —  especially  those  of  the  rainy  and  hot  seasons  —  remind  one  forcibly  of  the 
wonderful  realism  of  Kalidasa  himself."  —  Ditblin  Re-view. 

"  The  author  is  one  of  the  quaintest  and  most  charming  of  our  modern  writers 
in  an  almost  forgotten  kind.  Mr.  Robinson  belongs  to  that  school  of  pure  literary 
essayists  whose  types  are  to  be  found  in  Lamb  and  Christopher  North  and  Oliver 
Wendell  Holmes,  but  who  seem  to  have  died  out  for  the  most  part  with  the  pre- 
scientific  age.  One  or  two  of  the  pieces  remind  one  not  a  little  of  Poe  in  his 
mood  of  pure  terror  with  a  tinge  of  mystery  ;  the  story  of  the  '  Man-Eating  Tree,' 
for  example,  is  told  with  all  Poe's  minute  realism.  It  is  good  sterling  light  litera- 
ture of  a  sort  that  we  do  not  often  get  in  England."  —  Faff  Mall  Gazette. 

"  '  The  Hunting  of  the  Soko'  is  a  traveller's  tale  of  a  very  exciting  kind  ;  and 
the  first  of  all,  '  The  Man-Eating  Tree,'  is  quite  a  master-piece  of  that  kind.  But 
the  best  and  also  the  longest  contribution  to  the  volume  is  the  sketch  of  an  Indian 
tour  called  'Sight-Seeing.'  His  pictures  of  India  are  certainly  very  vivid.  — 
St.  James's  Gazette. 

"Tenderness  and  pathos  ;  delicate  and  humorously  quaint."— •  .Paw. 

"  In  '  The  Hunting  of  the  Soko'  there  is  much  cleverness  in  the  way  in  which 
the  human  attributes  of  the  quarry  are  insinuated  and  worked  out,  clouding  the 
successful  chase  with  a  taint  of  manslaughter  and  uncomfortable  remorse.  The 
account  of  the  '  Man-Eating  Tree,'  too,  a  giant  development  of  our  droseras  and 


Press  Notices. 


dionsas,  is  a  very  good  traveller's  story.  But  the  best  as  well  as  the  most  con- 
siderable of  these  essays,  occupying  in  fact,  two-fifths  of  the  volume,  is  one 
entitled  '  Sight-Seeing.'  Here  we  have  the  benefit  of  the  author's  familiarity,  not 
merely  with  the  places  in  India  worth  seeing,  but  with  the  customs  and  character  of 
the  people.  With  such  a  '  sight-seer  '  as  guide,  the  reader  sees  many  things  the 
ordinary  traveller  would  miss,  and  much  information  and  not  a  little  food  for 
reflection  are  compressed  into  a  relatively  small  space  in  a  style  which  is  not  only 
pleasant  but  eloquent."  —  The  Atheneeum. 

"A  deftly-mixed  olla-podrida  of  essays,  travel,  and  stories.  'Sight-Seeing'  is 
one  of  those  happy  efforts  which  hit  off  the  real  points  of  interest  in  a  journey. 
'My  Wife's  Birds'  is  an  essay,  genial  and  humorous;  the  'Daughter  of  Mercy,' 
an  allegory,  tender  and  suggestive.  But  the  tales  of  adventure  carry  off  the  palm. 


These  stories  are  marvellous  and  fanciful,  yet  imaginative  in  the  highest  sense. 
'The  Man-Eating  Tree'  and  the  '  Hunting  of  the  Soko,'  blend  thrilling  horror 
and  weird  superstition  with  a  close  imitation  of  popular  stories  of  actual  adven- 
ture."— The  W  'or  -Id. 

"  In  a  series  of  powerfully  drawn  sketches,  Mr.  Robinson  shows  that  he  belongs 
to  the  happy  few  in  whom  intimate  acquaintance  with  Indian  objects  has  created 
no  indifference.  The  vignettes  which  he  paints  are  by  turns  humorous  and  pathetic, 
serious  and  powerful,  charming  and  artistic.  From  them  we  gain  a  vivid  impres- 
sion of  the  every-day  world  of  India.  They  show  us  in  really  admirable  descrip- 
tions, bright  and  quaint,  what  a  wealth  of  material  for  Art,  Literature,  and 
Descriptive  Painting  lies  latent  even  in  the  daily  experiences  of  an  Englishman  in 
India  The  author  writes  about  butterflies  and  insects,  things  furred  and  feath- 
ered, flowers  and  trees,  with  a  keen  eye  for  the  life  and  instincts  of  Indian  scenery, 
and  with  a  delightful  sympathy  for  the  East.  .  .  .  His  exquisite  sketches  remind 
one  of  the  classical  work  —  'White's  Natural  History  of  Selborne.'  In  Mr. 
Robinson's  book  there  is  to  be  found  the  same  patience  in  observation  united  to 
the  charm  of  a  highly-cultured  mind.  .  .  .  Where  everything  is  so  good  it  would 
be  idle  to  show  a  preference  by  quotation."  —  ^aQdJtn  fur  bte 


"  Mr.  Phil.  Robinson  has  his  own  way  of  looking  at  Nature,  and  a  very  pleas- 
ant way  it  is.  His  love  of  his  subject  is  as  genuine,  perhaps  more  so,  than  that 
of  the  solemn  naturalist  who  writes  with  a  pen  of  lead  :  he  can  be  at  once  lively 
and  serious  ;  and  his  knowledge,  which  resembles  in  variety  the  contents  of  an 
ostrich's  stomach,  is  exhibited  without  effort.  Indeed,  it  would  be  incorrect  to 
say  that  it  is  exhibited  at  all.  His  style  is,  no  doubt,  achieved  with  art,  but  the 
art  is  not  seen,  and  his  easy  method  of  expressing  what  he  knows  may  deceive  the 
unwary  reader.  .  .  .  This  delightful  volume  !  A  book  which  deserves  the  atten- 
tion both  of  old  and  young  readers.1'  —  The  Spectator. 

"When  Mr.  Robinson  sent  out  those  delightful  chapters  entitled  'In  My 
Indian  Garden,'  it  was  evident  that  a  new  genius  had  appeared  on  the  horizon  of 
English  literature.  In  that  exquisite  little  book,  the  original  and  accurate  obser- 
vations of  animal  life  which  charmed  the  naturalist  were  conveyed  with  a  humor 
so  entirely  new  and  clothed  with  a  diction  so  perfect  as  to  give  a  very  high  literary 
value  to  the  work  as  well  as  a  signal  promise  of  further  performance  on  a  yet 
larger  scale.  .  .  .  His  purely  literary  quality  reminds  us  of  the  old  masters"  of 
humor  ;  but  it  has  the  unique  advantage  of  alliance  with  a  range  of  exact  knowl- 
edge of  the  animal  world  of  which  none  of  Mr.  Robinson's  predecessors  can 
boast.  And  yet  our  author,  with  all  his  knowledge  and  love  of  animals,  is  pre- 
eminently a  classic  humorist.  His  rare  and  distinctive  faculty  is  seen  in  his  way 
of  inverting  our  method  of  studying  animals.  In  his  scheme  of  investigating 
nature,  man  does  not  play  his  usually  proud  part  of  discoverer  and  exponent  of 
his  fellow  animals  in  fur  and  feathers  ;  rather  he  is  discovered  and  expounded  by 
them.  When  the  Unicorn  in  Mr.  Lewis  Carroll's  Through  the  Looking-glass 
first  saw  Alice,  he  remarked  that  he  had  always  thought  little  girls  were  fabulous 
creatures.  Mr.  Robinson  possesses  in  perfection  this  power  of  presenting  man 
from  what  may  be  supposed  to  be  an  animal's  point  of  view.  And  the  view  that 
every  animal  exists  for  itself  and  that  all  barriers  to  its  self-interest  are  so  many 
accidents  and  interferences  with  the  scheme  of  nature,  finds  in  our  author's  hands 
the  most  startling  and  amusing  expression.  .  .  .  Mr.  Robinson  possesses  grace, 


